Gladiator Resources Limited (ASX: GLA”) has entered into a binding agreement to acquire the Highgate Vanadium Project in the Mt Isa minerals province in North West Queensland.
The binding Share Sale Agreement (SSA) with Vecco Group Pty Ltd will see Gladiator acquire all of the issued share capital in NQ Utah Pty Ltd, which holds the rights to 100% of the Highgate Vanadium Project by way of Exploration Permit for Minerals 25968.
The Project is located approximately 60km north west of Julia Creek and in close proximity to the large scale Debella and Arizona Vanadium projects and Rio Tinto Exploration tenements.
The Project comprises the licence which was granted in March 2016 for an initial five‐year term and covers an area of 220 sq. km.
Executive Director Ian Hastings said previous drilling on the licence site has focused on the formation which hosts the vanadium mineralisation and has established a large vanadium exploration target.
Mr Hastings said Vanadium is a key mineral in the rapidly growing renewable energy storage sector. Vanadium flow batteries are increasingly being used as the preferred battery technology to capture large‐scale energy generated through intermittent renewable sources. Vanadium is also being trialled as a cathode in lithium batteries, offering the potential for additional valuable uses in other power‐centric battery technologies.
Historic exploration at Highgate includes 18 drill holes for a total of 1,268m of drilling, including 269m of diamond drill core. Existing exploration drill holes are spaced 2 – 3 km apart, providing reasonable stratigraphic definition of the host formation across the Project. Vanadium oxide (V2O5) and Molybdenum (Mo) grade definition across the Project is limited, being based on assay results from one hole within the Project and a regional assay dataset.
Modelling of the drill hole dataset by consulting geologists) estimated an exploration target of 2,000 – 2,500 Mt at 0.26 – 0.50% V2O5 and an estimated depth of 42 to 65 m and thickness of 6.7 to 12.2 m with grades targeting an average of 0.45% V2O5 and 500 g/t Mo. Aluminium oxides within the formation are a potential High Purity Alumina by‐product.
Gladiator intends to complete a further 15 to 17 drill holes to further define vanadium, molybdenum, aluminium and other battery metals potential.