Jan. 17, 2011 - Sheffield Resources has acquired the McCalls Heavy Mineral Sands (HMS) project, located in the world class North Perth Basin mineral sands province.
The large scale ex-BHP exploration project has a 1.5-2.5 billion tonne exploration target with high TiO2 ilmenite, potentially suitable for chloride processing or synthetic rutile feedstock.
The company plans to evaluate potential for higher grade zones and zircon rich components.
The acquisition provides the company exposure to a potentially very large scale project at a low entry cost, located near existing infrastructure, including main roads, rail and power.
The transaction is well timed as there is currently a further tightening of the markets for valuable heavy mineral sand commodities, including high grade titanium dioxide feedstocks. Previous work done by BHP represents a valuable sunk cost that will facilitate further exploration.
Sheffield's HMS portfolio has been extended by the transaction and follows the recent acquisition of four advanced HMS tenements from Iluka Resources.
Sheffield now holds exploration licence application ELA70/3929 over the McCalls project, which is 110 kilometers north of Perth, Western Australia.
Together with Sheffield s adjacent tenements E70/3967 and ELA70/3931, the acquisition forms a contiguous tenement area of 471km2.
A railway line located 10km to the east of the project connects to Fremantle/Kwinana ports approximately 160km by rail to the south and to Geraldton port 345km by rail to the north.
This railway also links to Iluka Resources Narngulu synthetic rutile plant near Geraldton and passes within 1km of Tiwest s Chandala synthetic rutile plant at Muchea, 75km to the south of McCalls.
BHP explored the McCalls region from 1989 to 1995, drilling 252 aircore drill holes for a total of 8,054m within the area now covered by Sheffield s tenements.
The average heavy mineral assemblage was determined to be: ilmenite 74.2%, zircon 4.37%, rutile 0.52%, leucoxene 4.08%, monazite 0.03%, other minerals 16.8%.
Sheffield intends to undertake further drilling to define higher grade zones and obtain more information on the mineral assemblage, before committing to a resource drill-out.
This will be done once the McCalls project tenements have been granted and access and regulatory approvals obtained.
Sheffield entered into an option agreement dated 16 August 2010 to purchase the McCalls project from a prospecting syndicate.
The consideration payable on exercise of the option comprises a total of $30,000 in cash and 500,000 Sheffield shares.
The large scale ex-BHP exploration project has a 1.5-2.5 billion tonne exploration target with high TiO2 ilmenite, potentially suitable for chloride processing or synthetic rutile feedstock.
The company plans to evaluate potential for higher grade zones and zircon rich components.
The acquisition provides the company exposure to a potentially very large scale project at a low entry cost, located near existing infrastructure, including main roads, rail and power.
The transaction is well timed as there is currently a further tightening of the markets for valuable heavy mineral sand commodities, including high grade titanium dioxide feedstocks. Previous work done by BHP represents a valuable sunk cost that will facilitate further exploration.
Sheffield's HMS portfolio has been extended by the transaction and follows the recent acquisition of four advanced HMS tenements from Iluka Resources.
Sheffield now holds exploration licence application ELA70/3929 over the McCalls project, which is 110 kilometers north of Perth, Western Australia.
Together with Sheffield s adjacent tenements E70/3967 and ELA70/3931, the acquisition forms a contiguous tenement area of 471km2.
A railway line located 10km to the east of the project connects to Fremantle/Kwinana ports approximately 160km by rail to the south and to Geraldton port 345km by rail to the north.
This railway also links to Iluka Resources Narngulu synthetic rutile plant near Geraldton and passes within 1km of Tiwest s Chandala synthetic rutile plant at Muchea, 75km to the south of McCalls.
BHP explored the McCalls region from 1989 to 1995, drilling 252 aircore drill holes for a total of 8,054m within the area now covered by Sheffield s tenements.
The average heavy mineral assemblage was determined to be: ilmenite 74.2%, zircon 4.37%, rutile 0.52%, leucoxene 4.08%, monazite 0.03%, other minerals 16.8%.
Sheffield intends to undertake further drilling to define higher grade zones and obtain more information on the mineral assemblage, before committing to a resource drill-out.
This will be done once the McCalls project tenements have been granted and access and regulatory approvals obtained.
Sheffield entered into an option agreement dated 16 August 2010 to purchase the McCalls project from a prospecting syndicate.
The consideration payable on exercise of the option comprises a total of $30,000 in cash and 500,000 Sheffield shares.
