Heavy Minerals (ASX: HVY) has recorded a 59% increase to the inferred mineral resource at its Inhambane project in southern Mozambique.
The new estimate sits at 90 million tonnes at 3% total heavy minerals (THM) and takes into account an additional 30.3 square kilometres of prospective tenure secured by the company adjacent to the 4.4 billion tonne Jangamo joint venture project owned by Rio Tinto (ASX: RIO) and Savannah Resources.
The new ground includes a mineral resource defined during Heavy Minerals’ maiden air-core drilling program in 2014. The company plans to conduct metallurgical testing of stored samples from that program with a view to supplying sufficient material quantities to conduct scoping study test work and develop a process flow sheet for expected mineral products.
Commercial development
The work will help deliver an understanding of the pathway forward to commercial development. Inhambane’s updated estimate comprises 2.7Mt of contained THM, up from the previous 1.7Mt. The mineral assemblage is dominated by ilmenite (60%) and features credits of zircon (5%), rutile (2%) and leucoxene (4%).
Mineral sands have recently been subject to significant increases with benchmark ilmenite pricing rising approximately 60% since late-2020 to US$350 per tonne. Zircon pricing has also jumped considerably to now command around US$1500 a tonne.
According to the company, the increase in resource pricing justified a reduction in the resource cut-off grade used for reporting the Inhambane estimate, from a historical 2% THM to 1.7% THM. Heavy Minerals’ mining application in Mozambique has been amended to include the new ground which was previously ceded when the company transitioned an exploration licence to a mining licence application.
