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Augustus Minerals (ASX: AUG; “Augustus” or the “Company”) is pleased to advise that its shares will commence trading on the Australian Securities Exchange today (25 May 2023), bringing to market an exceptional selection of exploration targets covering the critical minerals Lithium, Rare Earths and Copper.
Highlights
- Early mover to the Gascoyne region - large contiguous land holding (~3,600km2) – drill ready critical mineral targets.
- Dominant tenement position covers 85kms of strike along the Ti-Tree Shear, a significant geological structure in the Gascoyne.
- High-quality portfolio of targets covering the critical minerals lithium, rare earths and copper.
- $10m raised in successful Initial Public Offer, oversubscribed and well supported.
- Augustus Minerals shares to commence trading on ASX at 11am AEST today under the ticker AUG.ASX
- Experienced board and management team including Andrew Reid (Managing Director) and Andrew Ford (General Manager Exploration) with extensive Gascoyne critical minerals experience.
Augustus has secured a large strategic contiguous package of ground (~3,600km2) in the highly sought after Gascoyne Region of Western Australia (Figure 1), which contains 85kms of the large regional geological structure, the Ti-Tree Shear.
Multiple discoveries of the critical minerals rare earths and lithium have been made to the immediate north and south of the Augustus tenement package over the last several years.
During the last 5 years, Augustus has generated an outstanding inventory of high-quality targets with similar geological host rocks and conditions as are present in these nearby discoveries that will now be explored with a focused systematic scientific program over the coming months.
Figure 1. 3,600km2 of continuous tenements in the Gascoyne Region of Western Australia.
Our Team
Augustus will be led by a highly experienced board and senior executives Andrew Reid and Andrew Ford, who have led the way in developing what is only the third ex-China Rare Earths Mine in the World.
Augustus Managing Director Mr Reid was Chief Operating Officer at Hastings Technology Metals Ltd (ASX:HAS) growing its Mineral Resources, receiving its environmental permits to operate and guiding the project through equity and debt fund raising, offtake agreements and initial project construction activities.
Augustus General Manager Exploration Mr Ford was General Manager exploration at Hastings Technology Metals Ltd and has a career that spans 35 years of exploration and mine development experience in multiple commodities for both majors (Homestake and Barrick Gold) as well as junior ASX listed companies.
Andrew Reid, Managing Director
“The successful listing and raising of $10m, which was oversubscribed, is a testimony to the quality of the asset, its location and the potential that it could unlock through active discovery.
The interest and activity in the Gascoyne region geologically is backed by at least a dozen companies actively exploring, with several of them embarking on major drill outs to define and increase Mineral Resources from recent discoveries.
We look forward to getting on the ground to commence exploration activities in earnest and report back on what is shaping up to be an exciting project locality.”
Our Targets
The Ti-Tree Shear project is located in a rapidly emerging critical minerals district in the Gascoyne Region of Western Australia.
The project area contains 20 granted exploration licenses covering some 3,600km2 as a single coherent block, with its location adjoining recent discoveries of lithium bearing pegmatites to the south with Delta Lithium (ASX:DLI) and Voltaic Strategic Resources (ASX:VSR) and Ironstone hosted rare earths to the north with Dreadnought Resources (ASX:DRE).
Figure 2. Distribution of key priority targets by commodity type.
Initially the Company’s objectives are to target the most prospective geological anomalies being the outcropping ironstone’s which can host rare earths at Cabbage Tree, Macs Well, Hidden Valley and 17 Mile.
Lithium (Li) targets at Birthday Well and Crawford Bore have the potential to host pegmatites and are backed by elevated Li rock chip and stream sediment samples and will also be priority target.
Advanced copper prospects at Copper Ridge, Minnie Springs and Noonary Well are walk up drill targets with no drilling completed to date and will be drilled during calendar 2023.
Our strategy is now to move as quickly as possible with ground engaging activities to firm up our priority list of targets ahead of planned extensive drilling campaigns. The Board of Augustus believes it has assembled a significant strategic package of land with a portfolio of critical mineral targets the envy of the region.
Click here for the full ASX Release
This article includes content from Augustus Minerals Limited, licensed for the purpose of publishing on Investing News Australia. This article does not constitute financial product advice. It is your responsibility to perform proper due diligence before acting upon any information provided here. Please refer to our full disclaimer here.
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Diversification can be key to a profitable mining and exploration strategy. While there's no shortage of companies that have experienced great success by focusing on a single commodity, there's always an element of risk to that approach. There is always the risk that certain commodities will fall in price whilst others rise. Augustus Minerals, a newly listed exploration company on the ASX (AUG) is cognizant of this fact. An exploration company based in Western Australia, Augustus has acquired a 100-percent interest in a land package covering some 3,600 square kilometers in Western Australia's Upper Gascoyne region. Although traditionally known as a source of base metals, gold and uranium, the Gascoyne is rapidly emerging as a prime target for rare earths and lithium discoveries.
As an early mover to the region, Augustus’s vast landholding is highly prospective for lithium, rare earths, copper and gold. Its Ti-Tree project contains 85 kilometers of the Ti Tree and Mingabar shear zones, with extensive, untested, multi-element mineralization and surface anomalies.
The Gascoyne region is a large emerging critical mineral province with several deposits having been discovered in the last few years. These include multiple Ironstone REE discoveries by Dreadnought Resources (ASX:DRE), Hastings Technology's (ASX:HAS) Yangibana Ironstone REE project and Lanthanein Resources' (ASX:LNR) Lyons Ironstone REE project, as well as a large lithium discovery at Delta Lithium's (ASX:DLT) Yinnetharra location.
Directed by a highly experienced management team with extensive knowledge about mining and exploration in the Gascoyne, Augustus's exploration program will focus on more than 50 priority targets already identified by the company. These include potential lithium bearing pegmatites, REE-rich ironstones and shear/porphyry-hosted copper systems. Thus far, the company has completed multiple geophysical surveys and collected more than 15,000 soil samples.
Company Highlights
- Augustus Minerals is an Australian exploration company focused on the highly-prospective Gascoyne region of Western Australia.
- The company has 100 percent ownership of a land package covering 3,600 square kilometers.
- Augustus has identified multiple high-priority lithium, rare earth and copper targets throughout its project, with strong mineralization intersected at multiple locations across multiple commodities.
- Augustus's leadership team has the benefit of significant local knowledge regarding exploration of the Gascoyne province.
Key Asset
Ti Tree Project
Situated in the Shire of Upper Gascoyne and the Shire of Carnarvon, the Ti Tree project displays significant exploration potential for a number of different mineralised styles as well as possibly, multi-commodity discoveries. Spanning a contiguous 3,600 square kilometers, it also has the distinction of being one of the largest properties in the region. Augustus Minerals maintains 100 percent ownership over Ti-Tree, which intersects along the shear of the same name.
The company has identified several high-priority drilling targets along the Ti-Tree and Mingabar structures ready for reverse circulation, diamond or air core drilling.
Highlights:
- Emerging Geological Province: The Gascoyne region displays highly prospective geology and has been the site of multiple rare earth and lithium discoveries in recent years, but has experienced limited historic exploration — making it a prime opportunity for Augustus Minerals.
- Multiple Commodities: Augustus has identified more than 50 significant lithium, rare earth and copper targets. Many of these high-quality targets are ready for drilling.
- Size and Speed: The Ti Tree Project consists of a single coherent block of tenements covering 3,600 square kilometers with 85 kilometers of strike along the Ti-Tree Shear. As an early mover in the region, Augustus was able to gain a considerable advantage in securing this project, into which it has thus far invested $5 million.
- Fertile Geology: Augustus's investment displays the same geology as multiple highly successful neighboring discoveries.
- Mineralization: Current mineral resource targets include:
- 27 rare earth targets across 65 kilometers of strike. All targets display strong thorium radiometric signatures.
- Multiple mafic intrusions with copper-nickel-PGE (platinum group elements) mineralization. The copper resource is both shear-hosted and porphyry-related.
- Elevated lithium stream samples over 10 kilometers of strike length. The target area displays the same geological host rock as the Yinnetharra lithium discovery.
- A narrow, shear vein-hosted gold occurrence with anomalous mineralization displayed in several surrounding areas. The area, known as the Bassit Bore, outcrops at the surface, where visible gold is readily identifiable in hand specimens. Samples collected over 600 meters returned very high gold values.
Management Team
Andrew Ford – General Manager, Exploration
Andrew’s career spans 35 years of exploration and mine development experience in multiple commodities for both majors, including Homestake and Barrick Gold, and junior ASX-listed companies. He has led technical teams throughout Australia, Africa, USA, Europe and Asia, including leading the geology team at the Bawdwin base metals project in Myanmar through the DFS process.
In his most recent role Andrew has led the geology team at Hastings Technology Metals with a focus on resource growth and exploration at the Yangibana Rare Earths Project, where Mineral Resources have now grown to 29.93Mt of TREO.
Brian Rodan - Executive Chairman
Brian Rodan is a fellow of the Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy with 45 years’ experience. Previously, he was the managing director and owner of Australian Contract Mining (ACM), a mid-tier mining contracting company that successfully completed $1.5 billion worth of work over a 20-year period.
For 15 years, Rodan held various roles with Eltin Limited (including general manager between 1993 and 1996 and executive director between 1996 and 1999), Australia’s largest full service ASX-listed contract mining company with an annual turnover of $850 million. He was a founding director of Dacian Gold (2013) and Desert Metals (2020) and became the largest shareholder upon listing both companies on the ASX.
Rodan is currently executive chairman of Siren Gold and Iceni Gold Limited, and is currently the largest shareholder in both companies as well as Augustus Minerals.
Graeme Smith - Non-Executive Director
Graeme Smith is an experienced resources sector chief financial officer, company secretary and corporate executive who has worked with mining and exploration companies with operations in Australia (Croesus Mining NL, Genesis Minerals Limited, Jabiru Metals Limited, Breaker Resources NL, Pluton Resources Limited) and overseas (Tanga Resources Limited, Ikwezi Mining Limited) for the past 30 years.
He is the principal of Wembley Corporate Services, which provides company secretarial, CFO and corporate governance services to public companies.
Smith is a fellow of the Australian Society of Certified Practising Accountants, the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators, and the Governance Institute of Australia. He is currently the company secretary for Alto Metals, Avenira, Renegade Exploration and Enterprise Metals, and was a director of ASX-listed Anglo Australian Resources.
Darren Holden - Non-Executive Director
Dr. Darren Holden is a geologist with 28 years of industry experience in mineral exploration and exploration technologies. He has worked in North America, the Pacific and Australia, where he has been involved in discovery-stage copper, gold, silver, molybdenum and platinum group elements deposits. He specializes in regional to local scale targeting using the integration of geology, geophysics and geochemistry.
Holden is a past vice-president of Geoinformatics/Fractal Geoscience and a former CEO of a publicly listed gold explorer. He currently runs exploration advisory business GeoSpy, and is a co-founder of successful private project generation businesses Marlee Minerals and Odette Geoscience. He is also currently a director Aurumin (ASX:AUN) and chair of OD6 Metals (ASX:OD6), as well as several private companies.
Holden holds a BSc (hons) first class (geology) from The University of Western Australia and a PhD (history) from The University of Notre Dame Australia. He is a fellow of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and a member of the Geological Society of Australia.
Quarterly Activities Report for the Period Ended 31 March 2024
Highlights
Solonópole Project, Ceará, Brazil
- Anomalous lithium values above 100 ppm (and up to 631 ppm) found in 383 soil samples within existing and new target areas.
- Integration and interpretation of these soil sample results with data from geophysics, geological mapping (138 line-km), trenching and RC drilling (~2,000m) further enhance prospectivity of existing and new targets.
- Combined datasets confirmed several swarms of pegmatite bodies striking in a NE-SW and E-W directions and identified new high priority areas.
- Nira interpreted to be the most prospective new target, with 180 soil samples of >100 ppm Li and as high as 524 ppm Li covering an area of at least 1km2.
- Nira also features 17 pegmatite outcrops with average widths of up to 30 meters and strike lengths from 200m to 600m.
- Planning for the next follow-up drilling campaign is underway.
Napperby Project, Northern Territory, Australia
- Oceana’s Napperby Project covers some of Arunta Province’s hottest granites plutons, the Wangala Granite (uranium) and Ennugan Mountains Granite (uranium/thorium).
- Both granite plutons show outstanding uranium/thorium ratios and are almost fully encapsulated within Napperby’s EL32836 and ELA32841.
- Follow-up exploration activities will target uranium and Rare Earth Elements (REEs) in parallel with Lithium-Caesium-Tantalum (LCT) pegmatites.
Corporate
- Experienced geologist and mining executive, Aidan Platel, appointed as non- executive director.
- Brazilian-based geologist, Mike Sousa, appointed as Exploration Manager and Competent Person.
- The Company remains well-funded with cash at 31 March of ~$2.67m.
OPERATIONS
Solonópole Project, Ceará State, Brazil
The Solonópole Project area is located in the state of Ceará, north-eastern Brazil and consists of ten (10) exploration permits covering approximately 124km2 (Figure 1), owned by Oceana’s subsidiary Ceará Litio. The project is approximately three to four hours by road from the state capital Fortaleza and deep-water port of Pecém, and is well serviced by sealed highways and high voltage electricity.
Figure 1: Solonópole Project permits and targets drilled in May – June 2023 (red dots)
Large-Scale Soil Sampling and Geological Mapping at Solonópole Lithium Project
The large-scale infill soil sampling program that commenced in March 2023 continued over the project area (Figure 2). The optimized sampling grids are along 200m spaced lines with 25m sampling stations, aligned north south to cut across all typical pegmatite strike directions in this area.
As at 31 March 2024, over 10,300 soil samples had been collected from Solonópole and 8,741 soil samples had been analysed by X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) for Lithium-Caesium-Tantalum (LCT) pathfinders, of which 1,908 soil samples have lab results validated by Oceana´s internal QA/QC. Anomalous lithium values above 100 ppm and up to 631 ppm were found in 383 soil samples within existing and new target areas.
Click here for the full ASX Release
This article includes content from Oceana Lithium, licensed for the purpose of publishing on Investing News Australia. This article does not constitute financial product advice. It is your responsibility to perform proper due diligence before acting upon any information provided here. Please refer to our full disclaimer here.
Results From First Drilling at Abbotts North Confirm LCT System
HIGHLIGHTS
- Assay results from Abbotts North confirm continuation of LCT system
- Focus shifts to targets identified to the north and east of previous drilling
- Field work over these newly identified areas has commenced
- Premier1 is fully funded for second phase exploration in these areas
A total of 11 RC holes for 1,623m were drilled to test the main outcropping pegmatites at the Buttamiah Prospect. Additional studies of the outcropping pegmatites in the larger Buttamiah Prospect area including fractionation vectoring using K/Rb ratios suggest the core of the system to be located to the east of the previous drilling.
In addition, the data indicate that LCT pegmatites occur within the granites to the north of the drill area. Further mapping and sampling of pegmatites in these areas as well as over the remaining tenement package has commenced. Focus is to delineate drill targets of higher grades and greater thickness that have the potential to form a significant lithium deposit within the existing LCT system.
Premier1 is fully funded for any subsequent phase two drilling program.
Figure 1: Cross-section of intercepted pegmatites showing significant results >0.05% Li2O.
Figure 2: Geological map of the Buttamiah Prospect with collar locations of completed RC drilling.
Significant intercepts from RC drilling undertaken on the Abbotts North project in February 2024 are shown in Table 1a. Drill collar details are shown in Table 1b.
Click here for the full ASX Release
This article includes content from Premier1 Lithium, licensed for the purpose of publishing on Investing News Australia. This article does not constitute financial product advice. It is your responsibility to perform proper due diligence before acting upon any information provided here. Please refer to our full disclaimer here.
Analyst Firm Targets Share Price Upside for Lithium Universe as Refinery Plans Ramp Up
“Drawing on its expertise, LU7’s Dream Team is working on closing the massive gap in downstream lithium processing in North America by building a 16,000 tpa lithium carbonate refinery in Quebec, for which the company is rapidly completing a DFS (definitive feasibility study,” said East Coast Research analyst Behzad Golmohammadi in his report.
Led by lithium pioneer Iggy Tan, Lithium Universe has assembled a team of lithium industry experts that can deliver on the company’s goal to strengthen North America’s lithium supply chain. Through this expertise, Lithium Universe aims to close a widening lithium processing gap in North America, through a planned 16,000-tpa lithium carbonate refinery in Quebec, Canada, the analyst report cited. Lithium Universe is currently undertaking a definitive feasibility study for the processing plant.
China currently controls around 60 percent of the global lithium refining capacity for batteries, a huge driver for North American efforts to a lithium supply chain for the region.
“Western governments have come up with policies and strategic plans to support the expansion of their lithium refining capacities. However, the biggest challenge here is a lack of expertise that has led to a series of recent failures and delayed startups in the sector. This is where LU7’s Dream Team shines with its proven track record of successfully constructing and commissioning such projects,” the analyst report said.
Report highlights:
- Lithium Universe’s “dream team” of lithium industry experts led by Iggy Tan is working on closing the massive gap in downstream lithium processing in North America by building a 16,000 tpa lithium carbonate refinery in Quebec, Canada, for which the company is rapidly completing a definitive feasibility study.
- Lithium Universe plans to replicate the Jiangsu Lithium Carbonate Refinery, using the same engineering manager (Hatch) and the key executives who built the world-class Jiangsu Refinery.
- China’s dominance in the global lithium supply chain has pushed governments in North America to develop and strengthen a secure supply chain outside China, with strategic support for projects that expand North America’s lithium refining capacity.
- East Coast Research has valued Lithium Univers at AU$0.047 per share in a base-case scenario and AU$0.058 per share in a bull-case scenario, solely based on the Quebec lithium carbonate refinery project, and excluding the company’s prospective exploration assets or its spodumene concentrator project in Quebec.
For the full analyst report, click here.
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Augustus Minerals Investor Kit
- Corporate info
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- Growth strategies
- Upcoming projects