Emerging silica and mineral sands developer, Diatreme Resources (ASX: DRX) is launching a new air-core drilling programme for its Cyclone Zircon Project in Western Australia, seeking to update metallurgical testwork and confirm previous drilling results from the zircon-rich heavy mineral sands project.
Under the programme, 10 tonnes of heavy mineral sand will be obtained from the Cyclone Deposit, taken from areas representing the first three years of planned production under the current mine design. The programme aims to collect sufficient samples for processing testwork using the latest equipment and processes, process products and confirm previous drilling results for potential customers and investors.
“This new drilling programme will enable further metallurgical assessment of the Cyclone deposit’s amenability to the latest innovative processing technologies, while also reconfirming the Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS) modelling on Cyclone’s heavy mineral sands product suite is optimised for both market acceptability and pricing,” CEO, Neil McIntyre, said.
“The ‘shovel-ready’ Cyclone project is well positioned for development, with all major approvals in place and given the declining global supply and continued demand for these key critical minerals of high-grade zircon and titanium. We look forward to getting back on the ground at Cyclone and unlocking value for shareholders, adding to our flagship low iron, high purity silica sand projects in North Queensland.”
Discovered in 2007, Cyclone is located along the Barton shoreline within the Wanna Lakes area of the northern Eucla Basin. It is situated 25 kilometres from WA’s state border with South Australia and 220 kilometres north of the transcontinental railway. Diatreme’s wholly owned subsidiary, Lost Sands Pty Ltd, holds Mining Lease M69/141 which includes the Cyclone deposit.
The Cyclone project was granted a Mining Lease in 2014 which followed the signing of a Project Agreement with the traditional owners, the Spinifex People. In 2017, the project received final ministerial consent allowing for the development of a mineral sands mine and associated infrastructure. A Definitive Feasibility Study announced in 2018 demonstrated the project’s potential as the largest undeveloped, zircon-dominant heavy mineral sands project in the world-class Eucla Basin.
Previous exploration and metallurgical testwork
In 2007, Diatreme completed its first air-core drilling program at Wanna Lakes. The Cyclone deposit was discovered quite early in the programme, with Cyclone located at the southeast end of E69/1920. During 2010, there was a small program of resource definition drilling over the Cyclone deposit, while regional drilling to the north and north-east of Cyclone was successful in identifying low grade mineralisation associated with beach sediments in 2010 and 2011. Resource definition drilling continued in 2012 over the deposit.
Metallurgical testwork was completed on a 7-tonne bulk sample in 2011 and a 12-tonne bulk sample in 2013. The 2011 bulk sample was collected from holes drilled across the entire Ore Reserve to produce a representative sample suitable for Preliminary Feasibility Study (PFS) quality process design, whilst the 2013 bulk sample was collected from holes drilled within the planned first two years of production to produce a representative sample suitable for confirmation of the PFS process design.
2024 drilling program
The proposed 2024 Cyclone drilling program encompasses up to 156 holes totalling approximately 5,500m of NQ air- core. Drilling will be on six existing grid lines, with holes nominally ‘twinning’ and ‘infilling’ 25m apart from existing holes.
