Sheffield uncovers new Mineral Sands discovery

THE DRILL SERGEANT: Mineral Sands explorer Sheffield Resources has claimed discovery of a new Heavy Mineral Sands deposit after receiving the first results of a 2012 drilling campaign at the company’s Eneabba project in the Mid-West region of Western Australia.

The discovery was made at the Durack prospect which is located 20 kilometres south of the Yandanooka deposit, which boasts a 71.75 million tonnes at 2.6 per cent Heavy Minerals (HM) combined Indicated and Inferred Resource.

Location of Durack prospect within the Eneabba project. Source: Company announcement

Sheffield had a Scoping Study conducted at Eneabba earlier this year, which identified near-surface deposits, such as this recent discovery at Durack, as having the potential to improve the Eneabba project economics.

The drilling program at Durack returned results including:

– 13.5 metres at 3.66 per cent HM from 0 metres;

– 13.5m at 3.44 per cent HM from 0m, including 9m at 4.56 per cent HM from 0m;

– 10.5m at 4.28 per cent HM from 0m, including 6m at 6.24 per cent HM from 0m; and

– 12.0m at 3.69 per cent HM from 0m.

“This is a terrific start to our 2012 drilling campaign,” Sheffield Resources managing director Bruce McQuitty said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“Sheffield continues to deliver on its strategy of targeting HMS deposits which have minimal overburden and which present as clear exploration and development opportunities.

“Durack has all the attributes of our nearby Yandanooka deposit which contains significant zircon and rutile, has little overburden and contains a core of high grade heavy mineral.
“Most importantly, the discovery at Durack is expected to make the project economics of the current Prefeasibility Study even more attractive than the robust results demonstrated by our recently completed Scoping Study.”