Mt Lindsay Tin/Tungsten Project, North-West Tasmania
The Mount Lindsay Project is located 125km, by sealed road, from the Port of Burnie in north-west Tasmania. The project area covers over 360km2 encompassing the south, west and northern margins and metamorphic aureole of the Meredith Granite. The Meredith Granite is part of a suite of Devonian granites which host several world class tin deposits including Renison Bell (>200,000t of tin metal produced), Mount Bischoff and Cleveland. In addition to the tin deposits the granites also host iron deposits (Savage River operating for >40 years), nickel deposits (Avebury), and poly-metallic deposits (Rosebery - operating for >75 years).
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Locally Ventures Mt Lindsay is situated 15km north-west and along strike from the world class Renison Bell tin mine and 25km south of Australia’s longest operating magnetite mine (Savage River). The Companys resource base at Mt Lindsay is situated within granted exploration licences owned 100% by Venture. In addition to the extensive land position controlled directly by Venture, the Company is also earning a minimum 70% interest in tin, tungsten and iron through a joint venture with Bass Metals, covering a further 146km2 of tenure.
Mount Lindsay Deposit (Tin/Tungsten/Magnetite)
The Mt Lindsay Deposit is hosted within a series of north north-west striking skarns which have been metasomatised by the Meredith Granite enriching the skarns with tin, tungsten and iron mineralization. Resources to date are hosted within the Main and No.2 Skarns which extend over a combined strike 3.6kms and are situated immediately adjacent to local infrastructure, including:
- Located 1.6km from a sealed road
- 23km by sealed road to existing rail (with spare capacity)
- 100km by rail to existing port facilities (with spare capacity)
- 1km from high voltage hydropower
- Abundant water
Resources
To date the Company has drilled more than +75,000 metres of diamond core drilling at Mt Lindsay targeting the high grade tin and tungsten zones within the Main and No. 2 Skarns. Drilling recently culminated in the definition of a world class, high grade tin/tungsten resource containing over 120,000 tonnes of metal.
Resources at Mt Lindsay are relatively shallow with over 90% of the current resource base likely to be amenable to open pit mining. In addition resources typically come to the surface, exhibit excellent continuity, and are open at depth.
Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS) March 2011
The completion of the Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS) at the Mt Lindsay Tin/Tungsten Project in north-west Tasmania, confirmed the robust economics of the project, moving Venture a step closer to becoming a significant producer of tin and tungsten.
The detailed study has delivered impressive results, suggesting a future operation at Mt Lindsay would generate substantial revenue, operate at a high margin per tonne and deliver an excellent internal rate of return.
The study at Mt Lindsay, one of the world’s largest undeveloped tin projects, focussed primarily on open pit mining, utilised indicated resources only and was based on a throughput of 1.3Mt per annum and optimised at a tin price of US$25,400 per tonne, which represents more than a 20% discount to the current London Metal Exchange (“LME”) tin price.
Pre-Feasibility Study Highlights include:
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Commodity Price Comparisons (A$) |
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* Please note all figures are quoted pre-tax |
Preferred Case (Spot -10%) |
Conservative Case (Spot -20%) |
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$1,270m |
$1,130m |
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$570m |
$430m |
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42% |
29% |
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$72m |
$54m |
The study’s financials have been presented at a range of commodity prices for tin, tungsten, magnetite and copper; these include an upside case utilising current spot prices, a preferred case using current spot prices -10%; and a conservative case which utilises spot prices -20%. Even at conservative commodity prices, the study suggests that the Mt Lindsay Project would be a very profitable operation.
The successful completion of the pre feasibility study represents a major achievement for the Company and is a very important milestone in the development of the Mt Lindsay Project.
Following completion of the PFS, Venture Minerals can now commence a Bankable Feasibility Study (“BFS”) as well as continuing to maintain an aggressive approach exploration. The Company is fully funded for the coming year with A$25 million in cash and currently has six drill rigs on site.
Metallurgical
Extensive metallurgical test work continues to be one of the main focuses at Mt Lindsay. Results over the past year have continued to be very favourable concluding once again that iron can be easily separated through magnetic separation and that high quality concentrates of tin (cassiterite) and tungsten (scheelite) can be produced through standard gravity and flotation techniques.
Exploration
Ongoing test work will continue to refine the process route as the company moves from pre-feasibility into bankable feasibility.
The discovery of the high grade tin and tungsten zones has given the Company's exploration team an added understanding of the controls on high grade mineralisation. This knowledge is now being applied to the parallel skarns. The initial focus has been on the immediately adjacent No. 1 and Waterhouse Skarns. Drilling to date has intersected similar mineral assemblages as what is observed in the Main and No. 2 Skarns.
In addition to the No. 1 and Waterhouse targets there are an additional 8 high priority drill targets identified within the Mt Lindsay area. With both the current ore bodies still open at depth and a large number of skarns still to be drill tested, the Company is confident that the resource base can grow significantly over the coming year.
