Fireweed Metals Corp (TSX-V:FWZ, OTCQB:FWEDF) has revealed a new mineral resource estimate for its Mactung project that positions it as a preeminent tungsten deposit.
The current mineral resource at Mactung stands as the largest high-grade tungsten resource globally and deviates considerably from the norm in terms of grade and contained metal, according to Fireweed.
The estimated mineral resources consist of 41.5 million tonnes of indicated resources at a grade of 0.73% WO3 (tungsten trioxide) and 12.2 million tonnes of inferred resources at a grade of 0.59% WO3.
Additionally, an exploration target of 2.5 to 3.5 million tonnes at a grade ranging from 0.4% to 0.6% WO3 has been identified within the mining shapes that constrain the mineral resource.
The resource estimate also includes estimates for copper and gold, Fireweed noted. Ongoing metallurgical test work by the company aims to determine the recoveries of these by-product metals.
Fireweed CEO Brandon MacDonald hailed the project’s progression under Fireweed’s ownership.
“In one year we have gone from signing an initial Letter of Intent to a Definitive Asset Purchase Agreement to the publication of new mineral resource for Mactung,” MacDonald said in a statement.
“We have taken the historic resource through a process involving relogging, resampling, and a rigorous, modern estimation methodology, and confirmed an impressive and world-class tungsten resource at Mactung. This not only reaffirms Mactung's unmatched combination of grade and scale but establishes it as a truly strategic critical minerals project for the West with the underground resource alone able to supply much of North America’s expected demand for decades.”
Located in the Yukon and Northwest Territories of Canada, Mactung is contiguous with Fireweed's Macmillan Pass zinc-lead-silver project, which offers the potential for future project synergies.
The deposit is classified into an upper and lower zone, both extending from the surface to depths of approximately 400 meters. The lower zone, with a thickness of 20-30 meters, stretches for approximately one kilometer in strike and up to 380 meters down-dip.
The high-grade portion of the resource is confined by underground mining volumes at a 0.5% WO3 cut-off grade in the lower zone, while the upper zone is constrained by a conceptual pit shell at a 0.25% WO3 cut-off grade, according to the company.
Fireweed said it will collaborate with federal, territorial, and Indigenous governments to advance Mactung through the permitting and detailed engineering stages.
Shares of the Vancouver-based junior were up 4.3% following the Tuesday midmorning announcement.
Contact Angela at angela@proactiveinvestors.com
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