Hazelwood Resources (ASX: HAZ) is an emerging ferroalloy producer, with a majority interest in the largest, most advanced ferrotungsten plant outside of China.
Hazelwood Resources tastes more drilling success at Big Hill Tungsten project
Tungsten miner Hazelwood Resources (ASX: HAZ) has made a promising start to the current exploration program.
The first drill hole of the current program has confirmed the extension of significant tungsten mineralisation on the western part of the Big Hill Deposit, beyond the limits of the current Mineral Resource.
Investors are fast becoming accustomed to drilling success at Cookes Creek Tungsten Project - Big Hill deposit is a part of the project.
To date, every drill hole completed at the Cookes Creek Tungsten Project has intersected significant tungsten mineralisation, said Hazelwood executive chairman Mark McAuliffe.
Continued drilling success has provided the confidence for its ambitions to provide 2-3% of world tungsten production - commencing in 2010. Prefeasibility on the Big Hill Tungsten Project is nearing completion by late September 2009.
Total contained metal at the Big Hill Tungsten deposit increased recently by 15% to approximately 1.8 million mtu at a 0.1% WO3 cutoff.
Pre-Feas work shows the project to be be cash flow positive at low tungsten prices, with production of 200,000-220,000 mtu of tungsten per annum, at cash operating costs of less than US$100.00 per mtu.
What will make the Big Hill mineral resource particularly attractive to offtakers is it contains scheelite, one of the highest purity tungsten minerals. Contaminant and deleterious elements that generally occur in many tungsten deposits are either absent or at very low levels at Big Hill.
Tungsten was mined from the historical Cookes Creek mining centre during the 1950’s.
The Cookes Creek nickel sulphide and tungsten project is located in the East Pilbara of Western Australia, situated approximately 220 kilometres northwest of Newman and 30 kilometres northwest of Nullagine.
Two additional core drilling rigs are scheduled to arrive within the next couple of weeks to accelerate the program at Big Hill.
Up to five drilling rigs will be active on site for resource extensional drilling, metallurgical sampling and water drilling. Drilling will target near surface extensions to the Big Hill Resource and test high grade zones within the Resource.
As a pointer to future exploration for investors, mineralisation at Big Hill has been shown to have a strike extent of more than a kilometre - yet only a fraction has been subject to resource drilling.
To provide for accelerated drilling, Hazelwood is completing a $10.3 million capital raising program for Cookes Creek project and, ultimately, the completion of a definitive (bankable) feasibility study. The capital raising is to institutional and retail investors both domestically and overseas through Hartleys Ltd.
A 20 tonne hard-rock bulk sample has been excavated for another round of beneficiation tests to produce additional samples of high purity concentrate for testing by end-users.
Larger diameter core holes will be drilled to collect approximately 50 tonnes of material for more pilot scale de-risking beneficiation test work.
