Sheffield confirms talc intersections
THE DRILL SERGEANT: Sheffield Resources announced high-grade talc results from drilling at its Moora Talc Belt project located in Western Australia’s Mid West region.
Assay results from a 1,238 metre core drilling program completed intersected talc at all six prospects drilled.
Furthermore, significant widths of talc are defined at three of the prospects; Fowlers, Prowaka South and Tilleys.
Sheffield Resources managing director, Bruce McQuitty said the drilling results are a boost to the company’s exploration campaign in the Moora Talc Belt.
“These results confirm the chemical characteristics of our talc are comparable to those of Luzenac’s Three Springs mine which is renowned for its premium grade microcrystalline talc,” McQuitty said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.
“Our goal is to discover similar premium quality talc deposits capable of supporting long-life direct shipping mining operations.”
Sheffield’s 1,152 square kilometre Moora Talc Belt project contains over twenty known talc occurrences.
The company’s strategy is to evaluate the quality and size potential of each occurrence before committing to a resource drill-out on the highest priority targets.
Prowaka South is located 11 kilometres south of the Three Springs mine and contains talc of a very similar style.
Two distinct zones of talc mineralisation were intersected by the recent drilling. The upper zone comprises numerous narrow intervals of high grade talc with very low iron values, including:
– 2.13m at 31.8% magnesium oxide, 61.6% silica, 0.25% iron oxide, 0.56% calcium oxide from 82.0m.
The lower zone also consists of widths of talc mineralisation, containing some secondary carbonate veining and brecciation.
– 12.4m at 30.4% magnesium oxide, 52.3% silica, 0.68% iron oxide, 4.38% calcium oxide from 180.3m.
A single drill hole at the Tilleys prospect intersected high-grade talc including:
– 18.6m at 31.1% magnesium oxide, 61.5% silica, 1.56% iron oxide, 0.13% calcium oxide from 45.6m.
Sheffield considers Tilleys to be a substantial sized target with mineralisation remaining open in most directions.
Two drill holes at Fowlers intersected up to 81.1m thickness of weathered and partially weathered talc with exceptionally low calcium oxide levels from near surface.
Overall, Fowlers has elevated iron levels, however within the deposit there are zones of lower iron, for example:
– 11.4m at 30.2% magnesium oxide, 62.5% silica, 1.02% iron oxide, 0.02% calcium oxide from 0.9m;
– 25.8m at 30.7% magnesium oxide, 62.0% silica, 1.54% iron oxide, 0.06% calcium oxide from 45m; and
– 41.8m at 30.3% magnesium oxide, 62.3% silica, 1.49% iron oxide, 0.03% calcium oxide from 3m.
Sheffield said it intends to evaluate the distribution of these low iron zones within the deposit.
As much of the iron occurs as oxides on fractures, it may be possible to reduce the iron content through beneficiation processes.
Several narrow high grade intersections of pearly white talc were returned from drilling at Nivens, including:
– 1.15m at 31.4% magnesium oxide, 62.9% silica, 0.66% iron oxide, 0.08% calcium oxide from 53.2m.
Sheffield is encouraged by the high quality of the talc at Nivens and is considering further step-out drilling around the prospect.
At Buckingham weathered talc with low iron levels was intersected from a shallow depth:
– 7.60m at 28.7% MgO, 62.5% silica, 0.86% iron oxide, 0.04% calcium oxide from 25.3m.
Further exploration will target the talc horizon below the base of oxidation.
At Haigs a narrow zone of weathered talc with low iron levels was intersected:
– 1.50m at 28.9% magnesium oxide, 63.7% silica, 0.96% iron oxide, 1.13% calcium oxide from 25.6m.