Sheffield claims heavy mineral sands discovery at Dampier

THE DRILL SERGEANT: Mineral sands exploration play Sheffield Resources (ASX:SFX) has claimed a new discovery has been identified by drilling at the company’s Dampier heavy mineral sand (HMS) project near Derby in the Kimberley Region of Western Australia.

Labelled the Thunderbird discovery it was the first target to be drilled by Sheffield within the Dampier HMS project area.

“Few mineral sand deposits in the world can boast the width and grade of mineralisation that we are seeing in these first drill results from Thunderbird,” Sheffield Resources managing director Bruce McQuitty said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“It’s early days, but these results confirm the potential of what appears to be a very large and high-grade heavy mineral sands deposit.”

Results from the first 24 holes ( which accounts for approximately 14 per cent of Sheffield’s first drilling program) have returned high-grade mineralised intervals of up to 42 metres in width, including:

–    33 metres at 6.3 per cent heavy minerals (HM) from surface, including 21m at 8.9 per cent HM from surface;

–    31.5m at 5.3 per cent HM from surface, including 12m at 9 per cent HM from surface;

–    28.5m at 6.1 per cent HM from 1.5m, including 16.5m at 8.7 per cent HM from 3m;

–    30m at 7.2 per cent HM from 3m, including 18m at 10.1 per cent HM from 13.5m;

–    42m at 6 per cent HM from 6m, including 25.5m at 8.2 per cent HM from 12m;

–    40.5m at 6.5 per cent HM from 13.5m, including 25.5m at 8.6 per cent HM from 19.5m; and

–    20.5m at 9.5 per cent HM from 24m.

Sheffield said this is the first major heavy mineral sands discovery to be made within the Canning Basin, and as such has claimed it to have established it as a new, under-explored mineral sands province.

The Canning Basin has recently been the subject of a pegging rush by mineral sands industry participants, with Sheffield and Iluka Resources (ASX:ILU) applying for the largest areas.

 

Sheffield’s tenements and those of other mineral sands explorers in the Canning Basin. Source: Company announcement

 

Sheffield’s landholding in the Canning Basin now totals over 2,500 square kilometres in area.

The company’s planned drilling program at Thunderbird comprises approximately 170 drill-holes for 8,000m and is scheduled to be completed by mid-September.

The stated objectives for the program are to allow estimation of a Mineral Resource and provide material for metallurgical testwork.

Sheffield also pointed to the existence of exploration upside beyond its current program at Thunderbird, saying several kilometres of strike potential have yet to be tested.

The company identified the Argo prospect, located 12km west of Thunderbird, to represent another high-priority prospect that it intends to drill in 2013.

Mineralisation at Argo was originally defined by a single scout aircore drilling traverse conducted by a previous explorer, which obtained best intersections of 12m at 3.49 per cent HM from 42m depth and 7.5m at 3.44 per cent HM from 27m depth.