Andromeda Metals Ltd (ASX:ADN) has started drilling at the Mount Hope Halloysite-Kaolin prospect northwest of Port Lincoln in South Australia.
The 1,400-metre aircore drilling program is designed to obtain new material to undertake test work in order to determine suitability for various applications and to verify the central portion of the historic kaolin resource ahead of estimating a revised mineral resource.
The Mount Hope tenement, EL 6286 covers around 227 square kilometres and has had several stages of kaolin exploration conducted over an almost thirty-year period by companies looking for paper-grade kaolin.
The previous work defined a resource consisting of approximately 74% filler quality and 26% coating quality material.
Mineralogical analysis by the South Australian Department of Mines and Energy in 1989 showed the presence of a significant amount of halloysite-kaolin, which is a rare and higher value-form of the mineral.
It was the presence of halloysite that ultimately made the Mount Hope kaolin unsuitable for use in paper applications.
Halloysite has many industrial uses beyond simple kaolinite and commands a significant premium above the average kaolinite price.
The Poochera kaolin contains a variable natural halloysite-kaolinite blend that is in demand by the ceramic market while pure halloysite can be used in petrochemical refining markets and for developments in new high-tech and nanotechnology applications.