Burley Minerals Ltd (ASX:BUR), an iron and base metals explorer, has moved to expand its assets in the Hamersley Iron Ore Province of Western Australia by applying for an additional, third exploration licence in the world’s largest iron ore production district.
The Cane Bore exploration licence application (ELA) includes approximately 28 kilometres of prospective outcropping Channel Iron Deposit (CID) style iron ore mineralisation, distal remnants of the Cane River CID deposits.
This ELA lies just to the east of the North West Coastal Highway enabling easy access to infrastructure, such as the townsites and port facilities of Onslow, Karratha and Dampier.
Ongoing project generation strategy
The ELA is the next step in Burley’s ongoing project generation strategy. The company is developing a pipeline of projects through the review and acquisition of projects with high potential for early resource definition and development.
“The addition of a third exploration licence application in the world’s premier iron ore province continues to demonstrate the company’s strategy of developing current resources and bringing in new value adding projects at various stages of exploration and development, with the ultimate aim of compiling a portfolio of projects with demonstrable potential to add to the current resource base,” Burley Minerals managing director Gary Powell said.
“This application complements the two recent Hamersley exploration licence applications, as well as our lead Yerecoin Iron and Nickel-Copper-Platinum Group Elements Project where Burley is actively exploring and conducting a preliminary feasibility study.”
Cane Bore Prospect
If the application is successful, Burley will hold three discreet tenements within the Hamersley Province, with the new application, ELA 08/3424 covering about 222 square kilometres along the western margin of the Hamersley Basin.
It covers a long, meandering paleochannel hosting an outcropping Channel Iron Deposit (CID). The CID is about 28 kilometres long with an average width of 400 metres and appears continuous, indicating a better preserved paleochannel than dissected outcrops drilled by Dynasty to the west.
These geological features mean the deposit has potential for a thicker and higher-grade CID profile.
The geology of the area is dominated by mid-to late Miocene channel iron deposits, which occur as a meandering line of dissected outcrop adjacent to the Cane River.
In 2016, Red Hill Iron Ltd published JORC 2012-compliant mineral resources of 664 million tonnes at 56.9% iron for the Cochrane/Jewel, Trixie, Kens Bore and Red Hill Creek deposit, which are proximal to or within the Hamersley range, just 40 kilometres ‘upstream’ from the eastern boundary of ELA 08/3424.
The company searched historical mining and exploration records provided by Western Australia’s mineral exploration report database (WAMEX) but found no evidence of prior drilling, though the area more generally has been explored for manganese, iron ore and for sedimentary hosted copper-lead-zinc deposits.
Next steps
The three exploration licence applications are undergoing the usual process towards granting of an exploration licence, but there is no certainty they will be granted despite no competing applications. Compilation and review of all available historical data will take place in parallel to the grant process.
Once the applications are granted, Burley intends to complete further detailed on-ground mapping and drilling. Mapping and outcrop sampling of the CID to ascertain its potential is a priority for the company.
If surface sampling provides promising results, heritage surveys followed by drilling will be required. As no historical work has been identified within the application area, preliminary field reconnaissance will be initiated by Burley to prioritise areas for exploration activities.