REG - Empire Metals Ltd - High Purity Anatase Confirmed Within Weathered Cap

Empire MetalsAnnouncement

22/08/2024 07:01

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RNS Number : 3348B  Empire Metals Limited  22 August 2024

Empire Metals Limited / LON: EEE / Sector: Natural Resources

 

22 August 2024

Empire Metals Limited

('Empire' or the 'Company')

 

High Purity Anatase Confirmed Within Weathered Cap at Pitfield

Defining Pathways to High Value Commercial Products

 

Empire Metals Limited (LON: EEE), the AIM-quoted resource exploration and
development company, is pleased to provide the following update on the highly
significant, titanium dioxide mineral deposit recently discovered at the
Pitfield Project in Western Australia ('Pitfield' or the 'Project'). This
newly identified deposit is located within the near-surface, strongly
weathered "saprolite" cap which covers the extent of the giant, 40km long,
titanium-rich mineral system at Pitfield, and it is enriched with high-purity
anatase which has formed from the weathering of the original titanite-rich,
bedded sediments. This finding, confirming that the ore at Pitfield displays
very low impurity levels and high TiO(2) grades, is the first step towards
proving that the material is a suitable feedstock for high value commercial
products including chloride TiO(2) pigment and titanium metal.

 

Highlights

 

·    Mineralogical assessment of the strongly weathered sandstones
indicates an abundance of high-quality anatase, containing up to 98.5% TiO(2)
and accounting for more than 5% of the mass of the near-surface weathered
bedrock, being 4 to 5 times higher TiO(2) concentration than that typically
found in mineral sand deposits.

 

·    Anatase, a variant of rutile, is considered a highly valuable mineral
and is now emerging as a strategic feedstock for the titanium chloride pigment
and titanium metal markets as rutile rich resources decline globally.
Importantly, it is the purity and TiO(2) content of the feedstock and not the
specific TiO(2) mineral (rutile vs anatase) in the feedstock that is most
important to producing a high value TiO(2) pigment or metal product.

 

·    Historically, anatase rich orebodies, such as those reported in
Brazil and China, have derived from the weathering of carbonatites (igneous
rocks containing >50% carbonate minerals) and these ores tend to have high
levels of radionuclides and other undesirable contaminants such as niobium,
chromium, and phosphorus, all of which make them unsuitable for TiO(2) pigment
manufacture.

 

·    Pitfield represents a different, previously unrecognized class of
sandstone-hosted titanium deposit that contains none of the deleterious
elements associated with the carbonatite-hosted titanium deposits, making it a
source of very high quality anatase well suited to making a high-value TiO(2)
feedstock product.

 

·    Most of the titanium in the soft, friable, weathered sandstone
bedrock is contained within the easily extractable, naturally heavy anatase
that responds very differently to the main gangue minerals, kaolinite and
quartz, and thus is likely to require little further beneficiation to produce
a high-quality TiO(2) concentrate.

 

·    The potentially simpler mineral separation and subsequent less
onerous beneficiation processing characteristics of this clean, high-grade
anatase-rich ore provides an excellent opportunity for the production of
high-quality TiO(2) pigments and/or titanium metal.

 

·    Metallurgical testwork on the recent diamond drill core samples taken
from the weathered cap is underway, currently focusing on simple gravity and
froth flotation mineral separation techniques prior to acid leaching and
product refining studies.

 

·    The Company's immediate focus remains on confirming the process
route, delineating a maiden Mineral Resource Estimate and defining potential
end products and will continue to update the market on the development plan
and progress being made in due course.

 

Shaun Bunn, Managing Director, said: "The discovery of a naturally occurring,
concentrated zone of high-quality anatase within the extensive weathered cap
provides an enormous opportunity for the Company to accelerate its plans to
become the next fully integrated "mine to high-quality TiO(2) product"
project. The anatase found at Pitfield has a very high TiO(2) content and is
free of deleterious impurities, making it a desirable feedstock for processing
to TiO(2) pigment. Anatase can be chlorinated to produce titanium
tetrachloride (TiCl(4)) under similar conditions required to process rutile,
an important precursor to making TiO(2) pigment and titanium metal.

 

"Clearly, this discovery will have a material and immediate positive impact on
the overall project economics. The strongly weathered cap can be mined first
and will be amenable to very low-cost strip mining methods due to its
surficial position, broad extent and soft, friable nature due to weathering.
The weathering has also converted the gangue silicate minerals to kaolinite
and quartz, common minerals that can be simply separated with conventional
techniques, providing a clear processing pathway for the recovery of a
high-grade TiO(2) mineral concentrate suitable for the production of TiO(2)
pigments and titanium metal."

Gerry Colamarino, Managing Director of TiPMC Consulting, commented:

"The latest information provided on the weathered cap is very encouraging for
Empire Metals' Pitfield Project. Importantly, the crystal formation of the
anatase mineral within the ore does not impact on the final TiO(2) pigment
crystal structure, hence anatase potentially represents a novel solution to
supply feedstock options for TiO(2) pigment manufacture.

In both the chloride and sulphate pigment processes, the feedstock is
converted to an intermediate product (TiCl(4) in the case of chloride, TiSO(4)
in the case of sulphate).  The crystal structure of the final TiO(2) product
is created downstream: in the case of the chloride process, the oxidation step
creates the rutile crystal and in the sulphate process, the calcination
process creates the rutile crystal.  Thus, the crystal structure of the
feedstock is unrelated to the crystal structure of the final TiO(2) product.

The potential for a high TiO(2) grade product with low contaminants from
Pitfield provides potential customers a multitude of options to optimize the
value in use of the product.  The potential Pitfield product can be mixed
with lower grade feedstocks or used independently to reduce consumption of
reaction chemicals.

Given the early development phase of the project uncertainties continue to
exist and further test work is required to explore the variables required by
the chloride process, including particle size, bulk density and the
digestibility of the anatase products.  Still, an anatase sourced feedstock
from Pitfield offers a new and exciting potential alternative to today's
available feedstocks."

 

Mineralogical Study Results

The diamond core drill campaign carried out through February and March 2024
provided important samples for ongoing metallurgical and mineralogical
studies, particularly the near-surface core that was successfully recovered.
Sections of this core, taken from two drillholes each at the Cosgrove and
Thomas prospects, were submitted for Tescan Integrated Mineral Analyzer
('TIMA') analysis and Scanning Electron Microscope ('SEM') microprobe work to
determine the mineral assemblage within the strongly weathered zone.

 

As previously reported (RNS: 5 June 2024) the results of the TIMA analysis on
the diamond core, and also selected RC drillhole samples taken from the same
target areas show a dominance of titanium dioxide minerals, rutile and(or)
anatase, within the upper levels of the weathered cap, with little to no
titanite (CaTiSiO(5)) and only minor ilmenite (FeTiO(3)) observed. Follow up
mineralogical assessment using X-Ray Diffraction analysis shows that anatase
is the more abundant titanium dioxide mineral.  Anatase is known to form by
weathering of titanite and may itself be further altered to rutile by
weathering. However, the rutile mineral grains observed to date appear to be
primary rutile sources rather than an alteration product of anatase resulting
from weathering.

 

A typical cross section showing the progression of strongly weathered
saprolite to transitional sandstones to fresh bedrock from surface, and their
respective titanium mineral assemblages, is shown in Figure 1.

 

Figure 1.  Cross Section from DD24COS002 showing strongly weathered
saprolite, transitional and fresh bedrock zones with respective titanium
mineral assemblages.

 

Mineralogical data from weathered samples at Pitfield

The initial mineralogical and metallurgical studies carried out on fresh
bedrock drill samples confirmed titanite as the most abundant Ti-bearing
mineral, accounting for approximately 67% of the total contained TiO(2) and
making up approximately 20% of the potential ore by mass at Pitfield (RNS: 5
March 2024).

The recent discovery of a new titanium dioxide mineral enriched deposit,
located within the weathered "saprolite" cap covering the extent of the giant,
40km long mineral system, has shifted the focus of the mineralogical studies
to this weathered cap. This in turn has required a change in analytical
techniques to include X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), which is required to accurately
identify the relative amounts of rutile and anatase, given that both are
titanium dioxide minerals that differ only in terms of crystal structure.

XRD analysis was undertaken on samples from an RC drillhole (RC24COS018) which
was drilled at the Cosgrove prospect. This RC drillhole was chosen as it
contained up to 13.5% TiO(2) in the weathered zone, as well as some zones of
lower (<4%) TiO(2) content. Empire provided 20 laboratory "pulp" samples
(ground to <75µm) for XRD analysis that represented the top 40m of the
drillhole.

The top 40m of the drillhole has been logged as:

·    0-2m laterite;

·    2-32m saprolite*; and

·    32-40m transitional sandstone, partially weathered.

*diamond drill core from a nearby hole indicates that this saprolite is a
highly weathered sandstone with intensity of weathering decreasing downhole to
the "transitional sandstone" noted above.

The XRD data provided important mineralogical and geological insights into the
weathering that has occurred at Pitfield and indicates that the dominant
titanium mineral in the weathered zone is anatase. The anatase has formed due
to the weathering of the original titanite-rich, bedded sediments over time.
The absence of titanite within the strongly weathered zone (0-22m) can be seen
in Figure 2.  Below 22m the amount of titanite increases from ~1% of rock
mass to 15% of rock mass as the bedrock becomes less weathered and transitions
into fresh rock. The anatase content is high in the top 28m, generally above
5%, and at around the 32m mark there is a transition from strongly weathered
to less weathered rock where the anatase content diminishes.

 

Figure 2: XRD data for titanium minerals within RC24COS018

The XRD results also confirmed that the weathering is having a strong effect
on other minerals present in the host sandstones. Hematite, quartz and
kaolinite are the dominant gangue minerals within the strongly weathered
sandstones, whereas albite and chlorite are common within the transitional to
fresh bedrock sandstones (Figure 3).

 

Figure 3.  XRD data for host rock gangue minerals within RC24COS018

The mineralogical analyses indicate that kaolinite is a weathering product of
albite and chlorite whereas quartz is also derived from the weathering of
albite and chlorite as well as from titanite.  The titanium released by the
weathering of titanite went to form the anatase that is now concentrated in
this weathered cap zone.  The calcium released in the weathering of titanite
was removed from the zone of strong weathering (see further explanation
below). It is important to note that the process of weathering, which is
essentially a natural, low temperature, weakly acidic leaching process, has
efficiently and thoroughly leached titanium from titanite to form a more
concentrated titanium mineral product, anatase, which supports the Company's
processing tenet that titanium can be simply leached from titanite to
similarly form a more concentrated, higher value commercial titanium product.

TIMA analysis uses X-Ray spectra to generate chemical compositions of minerals
to determine mineralogy, whereas XRD analysis uses the crystal structure to
determine mineralogy and is a more accurate determination for specific
minerals. In the case of anatase versus rutile, TIMA identifies both as
titanium dioxide minerals and cannot distinguish between the two, as that is a
function of crystal structure, not mineral chemistry. The follow up XRD
analyses, reported herein, were necessary to accurately establish the relative
presence of anatase versus rutile in the weathered cap samples and determined
that anatase is the dominant TiO(2) mineral present.

The TIMA results from the four diamond holes drilled in Q1 2024 at the
Cosgrove and Thomas prospects show similar trends to the XRD results with
regard to titanium dioxide minerals and titanite within the weathered cap
zone, with elevated amounts of titanium dioxide but very little titanite
present. The TIMA data indicate that the anatase is more concentrated just
below the bedrock surface where weathering of the host sandstone is strongest,
decreasing downwards through the weathering profile (refer Figure 4).

Figure 4: TIMA data for the weathered zones showing predominant titanium
minerals

The TIMA and XRD data sets also clearly support strong weathering patterns
with the decrease to absence of certain minerals susceptible to weathering,
such as albite and chlorite, and increases in their weathering end-product
minerals, kaolinite and quartz, within the same zone of strongly weathered
sandstone (refer Figure 5 for TIMA mineral plots).

 

Figure 5: TIMA data for the weathered zones showing predominant gangue
minerals.

Overall, the mineralogical data support the empirical observations from the
logging of drill core that shows significantly more kaolinite within the
near-surface zone of strongly weathered sandstones than in the fresh,
unweathered sandstones below. It also highlights the lack of calcium bearing
minerals within the weathering zone, the more mobile calcium having been
effectively removed during weathering through natural leaching processes
(Figure 6).

Figure 6.  Photo of DD24COS002 from core tray #3 showing kaolinite veining
(white) in strongly weathered zone around 5m-6m depth.  Note the weathered
reddish sandstone contains the hematite and anatase minerals.

CSIRO Microprobe data on Anatase from Weathered Zone Samples

Published anatase compositions from a variety of mineral deposits globally
show a broad range of variations in contained impurity elements. Anatase ores
are most commonly derived from the weathering of carbonatites (igneous rocks
containing >50% carbonate minerals); such ores commonly have significant
impurity levels of radionuclides, alkaline earth metals, rare earth metals,
phosphates, niobium and silica, which make then unsuitable for TiO(2) pigment
manufacture.  However, high purity, high TiO(2) anatase ores can make very
desirable TiO(2) feedstocks but are far less common.

Microprobe data from testing completed at CSIRO on the Pitfield weathered zone
samples show that the anatase present has very high TiO(2) contents (up to
98.5% TiO(2)), with variable but minor amounts of iron, silica, alumina and
vanadium(,) and importantly negligible radionuclides, niobium, chromium,
phosphorous or other potentially deleterious elements.

The Pitfield anatase samples show the amount of variability for the following
impurities for TiO(2) contents ranging between 85% -98.5% TiO(2) :

(·     ) Al(2)O(3) - 0.03 to 2.89%

·    FeO - 0.865 to 4.65%

·    SiO(2) - 1.48 to 8.67%

·    V(2)O(3) - 0.07 to 0.99

Commercial Implications for a High Purity Anatase Ore

These results indicate a high purity for potential Pitfield anatase ores from
the near surface weathered cap zone, in contrast to many known anatase ores,
particularly those mined from carbonatite deposits. If future mineralogical
test results continue to verify these initial results it will place Pitfield
anatase ores within a very desirable class, as high grade anatase (90-98%
TiO(2)) ores are considered to be a comparable to rutile , as it is the purity
of the feedstock rather than the feedstock mineral that is most important, and
both rutile and anatase can be used to make high value products, such as
chloride TiO(2) pigment and titanium metal.

The Pitfield Project

 

Located within the Mid-West region of Western Australia, near the northern
wheatbelt town of Three Springs, Pitfield lies 313km north of Perth and 156km
south of Geraldton, the Mid West region's capital and major port. Western
Australia is ranked as one of the top mining jurisdictions in the world
according to the Fraser Institute's Investment Attractiveness Index published
in 2023, and has mining-friendly policies, stable government, transparency,
and advanced technology expertise. Pitfield has existing connections to port
(both road & rail), HV power substations, and is nearby to natural gas
pipelines as well as a green energy hydrogen fuel hub, which is under planning
and development (refer Figure 7).

 

Figure 7. Pitfield Project Location showing the Mid-West Region Infrastructure
and Services.

Since commencing its maiden drill campaign in March 2023, the Company has
completed a total of 107 drillholes for 17,003m (including seven diamond core
holes for 2,025m), of which 67 RC drillholes and six diamond core drillholes
were drilled within the Cosgrove and Thomas prospects (Figure 8). The drilling
shows a high-grade (>5% TiO(2)), more than 1km wide central core running on
a north-south trend through both mineral prospects, which could join between
the two prospects thereby representing a potential total strike length of more
than 20km. Significantly, the RC drillhole results clearly indicate elevated
TiO(2) grades are present within the top 40m (RNS: 15 May 2024).

 

Figure 8.  Grey-scale magnetics map overlain by airborne gravity survey
results with the location of RC and Diamond Core drillholes and the Cosgrove
and Thomas Exploration Target.

Competent Person Statement

The technical information in this report that relates to the Pitfield Project
has been compiled by Mr Andrew Faragher, an employee of Eclipse Exploration
Pty Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Empire. Mr Faragher is a Member of the
Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. Mr Faragher has sufficient
experience that is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit
under consideration and to the activity being undertaken to qualify as a
Competent Person as defined in the 2012 Edition of the 'Australasian Code for
Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves'. Mr
Faragher consents to the inclusion in this release of the matters based on his
information in the form and context in which it appears.

 

Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) Disclosure

Certain information contained in this announcement would have been deemed
inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of Regulation (EU) No
596/2014, as incorporated into UK law by the European Union (Withdrawal) Act
2018, until the release of this announcement.

 

**ENDS**

 

For further information please visit www.empiremetals.co.uk
(http://www.empiremetals.co.uk)   or contact:

 Empire Metals Ltd

 Shaun Bunn / Greg Kuenzel / Arabella Burwell                                            Tel: 020 4583 1440
 S. P. Angel Corporate Finance LLP (Nomad & Broker)                                      Tel: 020 3470 0470

 Ewan Leggat / Adam Cowl
 Shard Capital Partners LLP (Joint Broker)                                               Tel: 020 7186 9950

 Damon Heath
 St Brides Partners Ltd (Financial                                                       Tel: 020 7236 1177
 PR)

 Susie Geliher / Charlotte Page

 

About Empire Metals Limited

Empire Metals is an AIM-listed exploration and resource development company
(LON: EEE) with a primary focus on developing Pitfield, an emerging giant
titanium project in Western Australia.

 

Exploration activity at Pitfield has confirmed the discovery of a new giant
mineralised system extending over 40km by 8km by 5km deep. Drilling campaigns
have confirmed high-grade TiO₂ mineralised zones across thick bedded
intervals to a vertical depth of ~350m, confirming Pitfield as a world class,
district-scale titanium mineral system.

 

Empire is now accelerating the economic development of Pitfield, with the
objective of becoming a leading producer of high value titanium dioxide
products.

 

The Company also has two further exploration projects in Australia; the
Eclipse Project and the Walton Project in Western Australia, in addition to
three precious metals projects located in a historically high-grade gold
producing region of Austria.

 

About TiPMC Consulting

TiPMC is a leading expert in the TiO(2) and pigments industry, providing
technical and pricing and marketing information to a very wide range of
industry participants. Gerry Colamarino is the Managing Director of TiPMC and
has 45+ years of international experience at DuPont, Iluka Resources, and
Bloom Energy.

 

Empire Metals has engaged TiPMC as a consultant to provide technical and
marketing expertise to the Company.

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