Accelerate Resources has hit thick zones of visual manganese mineralisation in all three large-diameter diamond holes drilled for metallurgical testwork at its Woodie Woodie North project in Western Australia’s East Pilbara.
asserted
Resources → hit → Pilbara
One hole returned an impressive 72-metre downhole span of visual mineralisation.
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hole → return → mineralisation
The Perth-based explorer completed three vertical holes for a total of 159 metres at its Area 42 deposit.
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explorer → base → deposit
The drilling will provide bulk samples for an important metallurgical program to define a development pathway for the project.
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drilling → provide → project
The standout hole intersected multiple zones of visual manganese mineralisation across a 72-metre downhole span, from just 5.6m below surface to the end of the hole at 77.6m. The company says the hole terminated in mineralised chert breccia, which holds the manganese, leaving what might be lurking below in the system untested.
uncertain
what → intersect → system
The other two holes also delivered the goods, with the second intersecting visual manganese from 14.3m to 27.3m, while the third hit mineralisation from surface down to 23.1m.
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third → deliver → m.
Together, the three metallurgical holes highlight the scale potential of mineralisation at the Area 42 resource.
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holes → highlight → resource
The news lands at an opportune time, with the global manganese market backdrop tightening amid recent supply disruptions at major producers and stronger buyer interest in long-term supply agreements.
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backdrop → land → agreements
It follows a savvy move by Accelerate last week to consolidate 100 per cent ownership of the project, clearing the decks of all legacy payments and royalties.
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It → follow → payments
Accelerate Resources managing director and chief executive officer Luke Meter said: “The metallurgical program is a key step in defining the development pathway for Area 42.
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program → manage → Area
The large-diameter core provides the sample mass required to assess both direct shipping ore and dense media separation pathways using continuous bench-scale composites.
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core → provide → composites
The results will help define potential product specifications, processing requirements and the mining concept for Area 42.
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results → help → Area
The drill core is now on its way to Perth for detailed logging and analysis at the CSIRO, in addition to metallurgical testwork at NAGROM, with results to be reported as soon as they come to hand.
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they → report → hand
The program is designed to assess the material’s suitability as a direct shipping ore (DSO).
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program → design → ore
For bulk commodity miners, DSO is the holy grail as it means the ore is high-grade enough to be simply dug up and shipped with minimal processing, dramatically slashing both capital and operating costs.
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ore → mean → capital
The company has already carved out a maiden inferred mineral resource of 1.2 million tonnes grading a solid 19.1 per cent manganese at the 432-square-kilometre project, which sits just 55km north of Consolidated Minerals’ long-running Woodie Woodie manganese mine.
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which → carve → mine
The company has also outlined a hefty exploration target of between 5.3 and 10.7 million tonnes at grades of 10 to 19 per cent manganese.
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company → outline → manganese
Perhaps more importantly, though, the at-surface geology doesn’t respect tenement boundaries, with Accelerate saying it appears to be sitting on a significant extension of the same mineralised system that has made its neighbour a globally significant producer.
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neighbour → respect → system
With the ownership structure now cleaned up and 100 per cent of any future discovery captured, the company is turning the drill bit’s attention to another prospect.
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company → clean → prospect
A maiden 3000-metre reverse-circulation drilling program at its high-grade Gingarrigan prospect is scheduled to kick off this month.
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program → schedule → prospect
Gingarrigan is backed by some seriously impressive surface numbers.
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Gingarrigan → back → numbers
Recent rock chip sampling from outcrops at the prospect returned grades of up to a whopping 59.4 per cent manganese.
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sampling → return → manganese
To put that in context, Australia’s two major operating mines at Woodie Woodie and Groote Eylandt boast resource grades of 45.5 per cent and 43.6 per cent manganese, respectively.
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mines → put → cent
While surface samples are not a guarantee of what lies beneath, grades like that are enough to make a West Perth miner blush and they may prove why the company is itching to get the drill rods turning at Gingarrigan.
uncertain
rods → lie → Gingarrigan
Accelerate has flagged a potential rebrand to “Mango Metals” - a neat mash-up of manganese and gold that better reflects its dual-pronged strategy of Pilbara manganese and its Balagundi gold project near Kalgoorlie.
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that → flag → Kalgoorlie
A recent drill program at Balagundi recorded an impressive 11-metre intercept grading 4.65 grams per tonne (g/t) gold from just 25 metres, featuring a one-metre slice at a bonanza-grade 46.93g/t gold.
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program → record → gold
Having tidied up its ownership, hit a 72-metre stretch of visual mineralisation with assays heading to the lab and a suite of high-grade rock chips pointing the way for the next drill campaign, Accelerate appears to be building a compelling exploration case in a commodity market that is crying out for new supply.
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that → tidy → supply
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting?
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company → list → something
The Aporia
