The assay results from Australian mineral exploration and development company Strandline Resources maiden air-core (AC) drill programme and the second round of auger drilling at the Bagamoyo (BG) mineral sands project in Tanzania have provided the company with encouraging results.

The BG-2 anomaly has received relatively wide spaced AC drilling along its 4.5 km length, and remains open across and along the strike, which confirms the potential scale of the system. The drilling of additional auger holes into the BG-4 anomaly has established the potential for north-west trending high-grade strands parallel to the current coast.

Owing to the results of the drilling, Strandline has estimated an exploration target comprising 78-million to 156-million tonnes at 3% to 4.5% total heavy metals (THM). A further drill programme is required to test the veracity of the exploration target.

Strandline also cautions that the potential quantity and grade of the combined exploration target is conceptual in nature and that there has been insufficient exploration to define a Joint Ore Reserve Committee-compliant mineral resource. It is also uncertain if further exploration and resource development work will result in the determination of a mineral resource.

Strandline MD Luke Graham said the latest results reaffirm that Strandline is rapidly building a world-class mineral sands business in Tanzania. “These assays confirm that BG is a major mineral sands discovery with high grades of zircon and titanium minerals,” Graham said. “As a result, BG is on track to be one of four major mineral sands projects we aim to evaluate and potentially develop in Tanzania over time.”

Strandline has a highly strategic portfolio of mineral sands projects in Tanzania and Australia at different stages of exploration and development. The portfolio includes two development-ready zircon-rich projects, the Fungoni project in central Tanzania and the large Coburn project in Western Australia, as well as a series of emerging exploration projects along the Tanzanian coastline.

Fungoni, which is located just 70 km from BG, was granted its mining licence from the Tanzanian government in August. Strandline is now advancing with project funding and construction contracts.

“Our Tanga South project to the north is shaping to be a world-scale operation and we are also generating strong drilling results at the Sudi project, in southern Tanzania, in joint venture with Rio Tinto,” Graham adds.

Summary of Drill Results

Strandline’s 100%-owned BG tenements are located approximately 40 km north of Dar es Salaam and close to the proposed BG port development in Tanzania. Strandline completed the AC and auger drill programmes in early 2018 and recently received the final laboratory assay analysis data relating to THM, mineral assemblage and chemistry testwork.

The shallow auger drill programme was completed across BG-2 and BG-4 using 50 m drill centres along variably spaced drill lines which confirmed the cross-strike continuity of the high-grade zones. The 19-hole, 373 drill metre AC programme was designed to test the thickness of mineralisation across the large BG-2 anomaly. The programme identified higher-grade zones ranging from 3 m to 10.5 m thick from surface, with a cross-strike width ranging between 100 m and 250 m.

The BG-2 drill holes were planned on an irregular pattern with wide spaced drill lines varying between 400m to 800 m apart and 200 m spaced holes along the 4 500-m-long BG-2 mineralised trend. No AC drilling was completed at BG-4.

The AC drill programme also confirms broad, high background heavy mineral content averaging approximately 1.5% THM that contains several high-grade strandlines with THM grades ranging between 4% and 6% THM.

In addition, mineral assemblage data has been received from 15 heavy mineral concentrate composites selected across geologic domains from the auger and AC drill programmes. The results show a high-value average assemblage, comprising 6.4% zircon, 4.6% rutile, 0.7% leucoxene and 60% ilmenite with combined rutile and zircon of 11.1%.

The mineral assemblage from across all of the zones and grade ranges at BG-2 comprises 7.4% zircon, 5.2% rutile, 0.5% leucoxene and 63% ilmenite. Five representative upper zones from BG-2 have a combined zircon-rutile content of 14.4% comprising 8.2% zircon and 5.7% rutile with a total THM of 82%. The mineral assemblage from BG-4 comprises 5.5% zircon, 3.9% rutile, 0.8% leucoxene and 57% ilmenite across a range of THM grades.