PERTH (miningweekly.com) – ASX-listed junior Arcadia Minerals has doubled the mineral resource estimate (MRE) for its Swanson tantalum project, in Namibia.
Arcadia on Friday told shareholders that a revision of the 2021 MRE had delivered a new indicated and inferred resource of 2.59-million tonnes, an increase of 115%, at an average grade of 486 parts per million (ppm) tantalum pentoxide, 73 ppm niobium pentoxide and 0.15% lithium oxide.
The project is estimated to contain 1 257 t of contained metal, a 154% increase on previous estimates.
“When the company commenced the Phase 2 drilling program at Swanson the primary objective was to increase the previous Joint Ore Reserves Committee resource of 1 214-million tonnes 412 ppm tantalum pentoxide, we set out to increase the resource to more than 2.5-million tonnes. It is very pleasing to announce that we’ve achieved this goal and more, by attaining an 18% higher grade than what was reported under the maiden mineral resource published in September 2021,” said CEO Philip le Roux.
“The results bode well for the company’s upcoming feasibility study, which is already underway with an outcome expected by September 2022.”