JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) - The Tasmanian government has granted ASX-listed Argent Minerals the Ringville and Queensberry tenements in the highly productive Mount Read Volcanics belt, following merit-based assessment processes in which the company's proposed exploration plans and capabilities were evaluated in separate competitive bidding environments.

The Ringville tenement is adjacent to the mining lease containing the Renison Bell tin mine - one of the world's largest and highest-grade tin mines, considered to hold more than 85% of Australia's economic tin resources.

ASX-listed Metals X, which owns 50% of Renison Bell has reported a prevailing tin sales price of about A$26 500/t. 

The Queensberry tenement is located 11 km northwest of the Mount Lyell copper mine - considered to be Australia's oldest continually operating mining field.

Mount Lyell produced more than 1.8-million tonnes of copper, two-million ounces of gold, and 41-million ounces of silver over 120 years.

The 82 km² Queensberry tenement area is heavily populated with old mine workings and ten recorded mineral occurrences. Four of these comprise the historic Queensberry mine, which according to government records, achieved grades of up to 40% to 56% lead, and six ounces to seven ounces of silver per tonne.

The Queensberry tenement position covers highly prospective parts of a Tyndall Group correlate, host to the Henty-Mt Julia gold deposit, and the White Spur Formation directly overlying the Rosebery-Hercules volcanic-hosted massive sulphide deposits.

The Argent tenements are strategically located in areas well served with roads and railway lines for transporting mined material to processing facilities and to port for shipping to smelters.

"The tenements provides a rapid kick-start to our entry to this highly sought-after area. The acquisitions further boost and complement our position in the Australian base and precious metals space to take advantage of strengthening commodity prices as global growth outperforms most predictions," the company said.