Bryah Resources Ltd (ASX:BYH) has secured an exclusive one-year option to purchase the mining lease covering the historical Horseshoe South Manganese Mine near Meekatharra in Western Australia.
The company has also secured the manganese exploration rights to a further 154 square kilometres of adjoining ground in the Bryah Basin.
Last week, Bryah’s share price jumped 30% following high-grade rock chip results from the Bryah Basin project
READ: Bryah Resources assays 52% manganese in rock chip sample, drilling planned
Bryah managing director Neil Marston said: “This is a very exciting opportunity and corporate milestone for the company, as the additional ground is highly prospective for shallow manganese deposits and has an excellent production history.
“Our review of historical data has only just begun but we are seeing exciting opportunities already, so we intend to move quickly to do the necessary exploration and testwork to confirm,”
Background
The Horseshoe South Manganese Mine was the largest manganese mine in the Bryah Basin and is located about 1 kilometre north of the Horseshoe Flats Manganese Mine which commenced production in 2017.
The Horseshoe South Manganese mine has historically produced about 1 million tonnes of mid to high-grade manganese ore.
The most recent mining occurred between 2008 and 2011 when Mineral Resources (ASX:MIN) extracted 400,000 tonnes of manganese ore.
With this acquisition, Bryah has secured over 15 kilometres of the same stratigraphic horizon which hosts the Horseshoe Flats deposit.
Manganese Potential
Manganese is used in steel production and as a battery component, notably in electric vehicles. It is largely regarded as a battery metal and the price outlook is strong.
Whilst there has been no further mining at the Horseshoe South mine since 2011, the mining lease is prospective for discoveries like the Horseshoe Flats manganese deposit, which was discovered by shallow drilling in 2010.
Remnant stockpiles
There are coarse and fine sub-grade manganese stockpiles remaining on site. The coarse stockpile is about 65,000 cubic metres in volume and the fines stockpile is about 150,000 cubic metres.
Part of the Horseshoe South Mine coarse sub-grade manganese stockpile
Bryah will evaluate these remnant stockpiles to see if simple beneficiation techniques and/or modern ore sorting methods can be used to produce saleable products.
READ: Bryah Resources in a sweet spot as it focuses on copper-gold and manganese
Bryah is embarking on a detailed exploration and evaluation program which will include stockpile sampling, metallurgical testwork, ground mapping, sampling, trenching and drilling.
Meanwhile, exploration of the company’s copper-gold targets within the Bryah Basin will continue in parallel with these activities.