Elementos Ltd (ASX:ELT, OTC:ELTLF), which has been exploring for tin, has picked up on significant zinc mineralisation within the mineral resource wireframes at its Oropesa Tin Project in Spain.
The breakthrough comes after a comprehensive study to evaluate the potential of producing a secondary by-product concentrate from the Oropesa site.
"Further impetus"
“While our primary focus at Oropesa continues to be the project’s tin mineralisation, evaluating the potential of adding a secondary by-product concentrate and revenue stream will give us further impetus to progress the project’s development as the DFS work recommences,” Elementos managing director Joe David said.
The addition of zinc to the Oropesa MRE represents a significant opportunity for Elementos to bolster the development of its primary tin mining operation.
A process flow sheet has been developed in collaboration with Minepro Solutions, a Spanish engineering firm, and Wardell Armstrong International Ltd (UK).
The company's findings are based on assays from 282 historical drill holes within and surrounding the Oropesa tin mineral resource wireframe areas.
High-grade zinc
The results reveal high-grade zinc mineralisation zones, including 4.25 metres at an impressive 41.8% zinc from 48.25 metres in drill hole ORPD-178, and 16.2 metres at 8.89% zinc from 171.8 metres in ORPD-188.
“While zinc, in the form of sphalerite, has been known to exist within the Oropesa deposit, it had not had any major historical focus, and therefore the opportunity to assess the potential of developing a by-product zinc concentrate remained un-quantified,” David said.
Additionally, there are extensive zones of lower-grade zinc mineralisation, such as 79.6 metres at 3.85% zinc from 23.3 metres in ORPD-178, indicating a substantial presence of the valuable metal.
In support of the potential for an additional by-product, zinc concentrate, Wardell Armstrong Laboratories (UK) conducted zinc metallurgical test work.
The results show the possibility of developing an incremental and low-cost by-product zinc concentrate with a zinc content greater than 40% and a recovery rate of 50-75%. The initial results are promising, though further confirmatory works are planned.
Moreover, the company carried out ore sorting test work at TOMRA laboratories, which confirmed an average upgrade of more than 28% in zinc ore feed grades when processed with cassiterite. This discovery adds to the growing evidence of Oropesa's substantial zinc potential.
Maiden zinc resource
As part of its continued exploration and development efforts, Elementos is performing additional modelling on Oropesa's zinc mineralisation to ascertain the possibility of declaring a maiden zinc mineral resource during the second half of 2023.
That said, the company remains primarily focused on tin extraction at the Oropesa Project, with zinc considered a by-product concentrate subject to further confirmatory studies.
The data collated for this study is impressive, with 11,446 zinc assay results compiled from various sources over the last year. This compilation includes the re-assessment of historic zinc data and the re-assaying of previously unsampled core samples, leading to the incorporation of all zinc assay data into the company's master hole database.
“Results of 11,446 zinc assays from 282 drill holes announced today are the direct result of a large and forensic effort from our site and geological teams to source, recover, sample, reconcile, validate and log the zinc data into a structured database form.
“These results now present the necessary data to further evaluate the potential for a maiden zinc mineral resource at Oropesa and a zinc by-product,” David concluded.