Anson Resources Ltd (ASX:ASN, OTCQB:ANSNF) has increased the potential value of Ajana Project in the Mid-West region of Western Australia with the discovery of extensive high-grade mineralisation of the high-value critical minerals gallium, indium, germanium and barium.
The discovery includes mineralised values up to 67 g/t gallium, 44.1 g/t indium, 40 g/t germanium and 1.2% barium associated with the high-grade zinc from drilling programs at the Ethel Maude and Surprise prospects.
Potential value-add
Anson hopes that the discovery of these critical minerals will add significant economic value to the Ajana zinc-lead-silver JORC resource being estimated by a third-party metallurgical consultant and says that certain minerals can be enriched 5 to 10-fold during zinc ore processing.
Anson Resources executive chairman and CEO Bruce Richardson said, “Although the company remains laser-focused on expediting the development of its environmentally-friendly lithium projects in Utah, USA, the results from the recent drilling program at the Ajana Project presents an exciting prospect for the company to further increase and diversify its critical minerals portfolio.”
This “advances our strategy to be a key supplier of critical minerals for the electrification of global economies.”
Resampling results
The results were obtained by resampling the high-grade pulps still stored at the laboratory from the previous two drilling programs at the priority Ethel Maude and Surprise prospects, which returned high-grade zinc values.
There were 127 pulp samples re-assayed for critical minerals, 76 at Ethel Maude and 51 at Surprise.
The average gallium grade was 20 g/t with a maximum value of 67 g/t. Only 9% came back with indium and 36% germanium values less than detection, respectively.
In addition, it was decided to sample 44 pulps for barium that coincided with high-grade zinc-lead-silver mineralized zones.
Further re-assays
Based on these successful results, Anson has determined to re-assay for critical minerals through all the mineralised zones intersected in the drilling programs at Ethel Maude and Surprise.
Predicted mineralisation zones at Ethel Maude have been identified for a further drilling program to be carried out to increase the potential JORC resource estimates.
Critical minerals support
The Federal and WA governments have recently pledged significant funding and support packages to incentivise development of Western Australian critical minerals industry.
Through its WA Strategy, the WA Government aims to establish an internationally competitive critical mineral industry that includes upstream production and midstream processing.
The upstream production is aimed at ongoing support for WA’s exploration and mining industry while the midstream processing targets capturing a share of the market (eg refining and processing).
In addition, the Federal Government’s 'Critical Minerals Production Tax Incentive' as part of the broader 'Future Made in Australia' agenda, is slated to have an effective date of July 1, 2027, and will come in the form of a production tax credit valued at 10% of relevant processing and refining costs for critical minerals for up to 10 years per project between 2027-28 to 2039-40.
Australia’s Critical Minerals List is made up of 31 metals and materials, including zinc, a key product of Anson’s Ajana Project.
“The encouraging high grades of gallium, indium and germanium and the rapid rise in value combined with governments’ policies designed to onshore critical mineral supply provides an opportunity that the company will continue to pursue,” Richardson said.
About the minerals
Gallium is a soft metallic element used in semi-conductors, blue ray technology light emitting diodes (LEDs), mobile phones and nuclear engineering because of their non-toxicity and resistance to neutron radiation and beta decay.
Indium is most recovered from sphalerite, a zinc-sulphide mineral, and is widely used in the aerospace, defense, energy and telecommunications sectors. Currently the US is a 100% net importer of indium.
Germanium is used in fibre optics, infra-red optics, high brightness LEDs and in semi-conductors with particular value for night vision and night targeting.
On August 1, 2023, China which produces 98% of the world's gallium and 92% of germanium cancelled all exports, weaponizing supply, highlighting the need to secure safe and reliable supply of critical elements and minerals.
It is anticipated that USA and European semiconductor chip manufacturers will actively seek to establish long-term supply contracts with future gallium suppliers (outside of China), such as Australia.
High values
Anson is buoyed by the current strong metal prices:
- Zinc US$ 3,012/t (LME, May 28, 2024).
- Lead US$ 2,248/t (LME, May 28, 2024).
- Siver US$ 31.94/oz (Kitco Strategic Metals, May 28, 2024).
- Gallium US$ 805.90/kg (Strategic Metals Invest, May 22, 2024).
- Indium US$ 643.80/kg (Strategic Metals Invest, May 22, 2024).
- Germanium US$ 2,972/kg (Strategic Metals Invest, May 22, 2024).