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Murray Ward
McLaren Minerals believes it has outlined a significant new heavy mineral (HM) sands system just east of the company’s massive 529-million-tonne namesake deposit in the Eucla basin in Western Australia. Exploratory drilling hit high-grade zones up to 13.26 per cent HM in two holes spaced a whopping six kilometres apart.
The company’s latest 20-hole, 156-metre air-core drilling program, designed to test for extensions to its existing McLaren titanium project, seems to have delivered in spades. The most encouraging results come from two holes on the program’s distant flanks, suggesting the mineralisation could be large-scale and wide open.
One hole returned a solid 18-metre intersection grading 5.05 per cent HM, including a richer five-metre core going8.98 per cent HM from just 10m downhole. A peak one-metre sample within that hole yielded an eye-catching 13.14 per cent HM between 13m and 14m.
Some 6km to the south-west, another drill hole delivered a 21-metre hit assaying 3.38 per cent HM from surface. That intersection also contained a higher-grade slice of 5m grading 7.07 per cent HM from 16m, with a one-metre sweet spot peaking at 13.26 per cent HM from 19m.
‘We intersected several nice intersections and the two best holes are 6 kilometres apart.’
McLaren Minerals managing director Simon Finnis
Other notable results included 11m averaging 3.2 per cent HM and 7m grading 4.39 per cent HM. Across all 156 one-metre samples assayed from the 20 holes, the program returned a solid length-weighted mean of 2.68 per cent HM with no grade cut-off applied.
The company says the wide spacing of the successful drill hits suggests a big new system may be at play right on its doorstep. Connecting the dots between those two distant points will likely be the focus of any follow-up drill campaign.
McLaren also noted that the new results support its developing interpretation of an additional paleo-shoreline, an ancient beach where valuable heavy minerals were naturally concentrated by wave and wind action. The drilling has provided new information on the shape of the underlying basement, which the company believes influenced the deposition and preservation of the valuable mineral sands.
McLaren Minerals managing director Simon Finnis said:“Given this is an exploration program, this is a good outcome. We intersected several nice intersections, and the two best holes are 6km apart, and the fence of holes in the middle also has good mineralisation, so there is plenty of scope to explore further.”
The results land at a time of strengthening mineral sands prices and renewed corporate interest in the sector. Several major Australian producers are flagging constrained supply and a recent wave of M&A activity is underscoring the strategic value of WA mineral sands assets.
While the latest results hint at a new discovery, they add a layer of blue-sky potential to what is already one of Australia’s most significant undeveloped mineral sands projects. The company’s main McLaren deposit holds a mammoth 529-million-tonne resource grading an impressive 4.5 per cent HM.
Assay results from the ongoing monster 11,568m 2026, 663-hole campaign at McLaren, designed to expand and increase confidence in the resource, have so far shown the deposit to be remarkably consistent, broad and high-grade from surface. That trifecta of attributes could prove geological gold for a potential bulk mining operation and may provide significant flexibility when it comes to future mine planning.
The results from the massive campaign will be folded into an updated geological model and mineral resource estimate for the deposit as McLaren builds towards its bankable feasibility study.
While the McLaren project is its main game, the company has also moved to establish a second front in its mineral sands growth strategy. The company recently completed a deal to buy the zircon-rich Barossa project in South Australia, giving it another platform for growth in the prospective Eucla basin.
With a massive resource already on the books and the market showing renewed signs of life, the question for McLaren is no longer whether there is another mineralised system next door, but just how big it might be.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: mattbirney@bullsnbears.com.au