Norge Mining plc, the Anglo-Norwegian mineral exploration company with a world-class resource of Critical Raw Materials in southwest Norway, announced an updated JORC2 compliant mineral resource statement for its Storeknuten Deposit of phosphate, vanadium, titanium and iron ore of some 1.94 billion tonnes, substantially increased from the 910 million tonnes reported in February 2022 and further endorsing the global significance of the discovery.
In addition to a more than two-fold increase in the total resource, this updated estimate includes resource in the Indicated category for the first time, totalling some 400 million tonnes, along with further positive data on mean grades of the EU Critical Raw Materials phosphate, vanadium and titanium. The magnetite (iron ore) grade of the deposit has also been included owing to the role of iron in lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries, a potential end market.
Storeknuten is part of the Høyland Exploration Area in the Company’s Bjerkreim Exploration Project, which is currently at the pre-feasibility study stage.
Highlights
Updated JORC mineral resource estimate for Storeknuten totalling 1.938 billion tonnes, with 400 million tonnes in the Indicated category and 1.538 billion tonnes in the Inferred category, representing an increase of 113% in the total resource tonnage compared with the mineral resource estimate announced in February 2022
Mean grades of 2.19% phosphorus pentoxide (P2O5), 0.07% vanadium pentoxide (V2O5), 4.68% titanium (TiO2) dioxide and 3.89% magnetite (Fe3O4) for the Indicated mineral resource and 1.70%, 0.07%, 4.50% and 3.57% respectively for the Inferred mineral resource, representing an average mean grade of 1.81%, 0.07%, 4.54% and 3.63% respectively
This substantial increase and upgrading of the resource is a result of infill and expansion drilling undertaken during 2022 and early 2023
For comparison, the mineral resource estimate published last year for Storeknuten totalled 910 million tonnes, with mean grades of 1.55% phosphorus pentoxide, 0.07% vanadium pentoxide, 4.80% titanium dioxide and 7.24% magnetite, all in the Inferred category
The increase in P2O5 grade (1.81% compared with 1.55% ) and the slight decrease in average TiO2 grade (4.54% compared with 4.80% TiO2) is mainly due to the inclusion of more zones with higher P2O5 grades and lower TiO2 grades than in February 2022
The change in average magnetite grade (3.63% compared with 7.24%) reflects additional mineralogical information, which has changed the calculation used to estimate magnetite content
The updated resource estimate has been prepared to the JORC reporting standard by SRK Consulting (UK) Ltd (SRK), part of the SRK Group, an independent international mining, exploration and environmental consultant
Source: yahoo finance