Special report: Explorer Hardey Resources has received very good news about four out of six vanadium projects it’s planning to buy.
Hardey last month announced plans to buy Vanadium Mining, a privately-held explorer that owns four highly prospective vanadium projects in Queensland and two in the Northern Territory.
The four projects in Queensland are near Intermin Resources’ (ASX: IRC) globally significant Richmond project, which hosts an inferred resource of about 2.6 billion tonnes at 0.32 per cent vanadium pentoxide (V2O5).
Ahead of the deal, Hardey has been conducting due-diligence – which has shown the four oprojects are within an enriched vanadium zone with significant exploration upside.
The projects – Sharptooth, Spike, Cera and Petrie – sit atop a geological structure known as the Toolebuc Formation which is highly prospective for vanadium.
Hardey has been evaluating nearby exploration undertaken by Intermin as well as Liontown Resources (ASX: LTR). Liontown’s maiden inferred resource is 83.7 million tonnes at 0.3 per cent vanadium.
Hardey’s review of 170 drill-holes from 2010 shows “widespread elevated vanadium results” along a 150km area.
One of the projects, Cera, has results of up to 0.58 per cent.
Hardey now expects to be able to model an inferred resource that complies with the JORC (2012) standard.
JORC compliance refers to the mining industry’s code for reporting exploration results, mineral resources and ore reserves, managed by the Australasian Joint Ore Reserves Committee.
