“There is strong demand for magnetite from steel producers looking to reduce their carbon emissions through production of Direct Reduced Iron (DRI), which requires the higher grades obtained from magnetite iron ore to be effective,” Mr Kelly said.
“Whaleshark has several large magnetite-rich banded iron formations that have not been previously targeted or explored for magnetite iron mineralisation,” he said.
“Data from the passive seismic survey recently completed confirms that these magnetite-rich banded iron formation lie under relatively shallow cover,” he added
“Importantly, the Whaleshark Project is located in proximity to substantial existing and proposed mining, processing, power, transport and shipping infrastructure,” he said.
Magnetite Exploration Target
The Company has estimated an initial magnetite “Exploration Target” for the Whaleshark Project as summarised in Table 1.
By using modelled geophysical data, geological logging and assay results from historical drilling within the Whaleshark magnetic anomaly and extrapolating those results to the two banded iron formations south of the Whaleshark Granodiorite, the Company has outlined a significant potential volume of magnetite iron ore, with the midpoint in the order of 1 Billion tonnes.
The scale of the potential magnetite iron mineralisation at Whaleshark compares favourably with several large magnetite projects within WA (Figure 2).
Cautionary Statement:
The above Exploration Target has been prepared and reported in accordance with the 2012 edition of the JORC Code. The potential quantity and grade are conceptual in nature and there has been insufficient exploration to estimate a Mineral Resource. It is uncertain if further exploration will result in the estimation of a JORC-compliant Mineral Resource.
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