Shares in Petratherm (ASX: PTR) rose strongly in early Tuesday trading after the company emerged from a trading halt with positive results from metallurgical testing of samples from its Muckanippie heavy mineral (HM) project in South Australia.
The company revealed that laboratory analysis of the samples identified high titanium mineral content, with results showing approximately 65% titanium oxide.
Titanium – which has uses in electric vehicles and battery storage, wind technology, pigments and as an alloy in steel and superalloys – is on the critical minerals list for Australia, US and the European Union.
Chief executive officer Peter Reid said the results from the initial trial heavy mineral sand (HMS) separation test were based on samples collected from historic drill holes stored at the South Australian Core Library.
The composite samples were taken from widely spaced, contiguous drill holes along a 2.5-kilometre traverse on the eastern side of the Rosewood HMS prospect area, located within the Muckanippie site.
“This outcome is a massive step forward for the Muckanippie titanium project and supports our strategy to maintain momentum over the coming weeks and months to determine its full potential,” Mr Reid said.
“We now eagerly await the initial batch of heavy mineral results from Petratherm’s recent drilling at Rosewood and look forward to providing results as they come to hand.”
Testing of three composite samples confirmed high-grade results of 7.2 to 12.5%HM, with associated high titanium dioxide grades between 63.4% and 65.0% reported.
Additional high-value heavy minerals, including rutile, were also identified.
Petratherm completed seven drill traverses, spaced 1 to 2 kilometres apart, over the Rosewood prospect in October, as part of a larger exploration program to determine the nature and extent of the HMS mineralisation identified from mapping and re-assaying of historic drilling.
The company has now submitted an initial batch of 90 samples from five drill holes along a single 1.8-kilometre traverse at Rosewood to determine indicative HM grades and thicknesses.
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