WA Ni-Cu-PGE
Fraser Range JV
Buxton and IGO Ltd entered into a joint venture agreement in 2016 for two tenements in the Fraser Range, Widowmaker E28/2201 and Zanthus E28/1959 whereby Buxton retained a 10% free carry to decision to mine and IGO manages all exploration (refer to BUX ASX announcement 24 August 2016).
Since that time, IGO has been undertaking systematic greenfields exploration targeting Nova style (magmatic Ni-Cu-Co sulphide) discoveries within the Widowmaker and Zanthus tenure, with over $18M in aggregate expenditure now attributed to these tenements.
Figure 1: Location map of the Widowmaker and Zanthus projects.
WIDOWMAKER
Five high priority drill targets have been delineated on the Widowmaker tenement. Of note are the Ecliptic and Solar Prospects along trend from the Creasy Group’s Silver Knight discovery (figure from IGO RIU conference presentation link below).
Fiure 2: Map of 5 high priority drill targets at Widowmaker.
Zanthus Iron Project
Resource Estimate: Buxton Resources has reported an initial JORC compliant resource at its Cohen Prospect completed by Runge Ltd, one of five target areas that may be subject to resource drilling. The maiden inferred resource estimate at the Cohen prospect was recorded as 103 million tonnes, grading 26.5% Fe determined with a 20% cut-off. The Cohen prospect was selected as the first target due to its proximity to transport infrastructure and potential for an open pit mining scenario. A scoping study was conducted by Runge Ltd.
Infrastructure: The Zanthus Magnetite Project lies within 25km of the Trans-Australia rail line, and 35km from the Zanthus railhead and rail siding that the Company can utilise for bulk commodity loading. The Zanthus railhead is located approximately 200km East of Kalgoorlie, and 600km by rail to Esperance Port. Esperance Port currently has the capacity to handle cape-sized vessels up to 200,000 tonnes, with expansion commencing 2012. An airstrip is also located immediately adjacent to the Zanthus railhead allowing ease of access to these areas.
Superior Metallurgy: Buxton has undertaken Davis Tube metallurgical test-work, which has revealed premium recoveries, grind size and low silica content. Recently completed test-work confirmed a 66.4% avg. Iron product delivered at 150 micron grind size and up to 68% Fe experienced in earlier testing.
- Comparably the metallurgical characteristics of BUX’s magnetite project are amongst the best in Australia.
- High grade iron product can be produced at a very coarse grain size of 150 micron (p80).
- Coarse grind size indicates that future CAPEX and OPEX may be significantly lower than similar operations.
Investment Highlights Zanthus Project
| Prospect | Drilling to date (m) | JORC resource(Inferred) | Exploration target* |
| Cohen | – | 103.6Mt @ 26.5% Fe | – |
| Marley Line | – | – | 151-281Mt @ 22-32% Fe* |
| Zappa-Dylan Line | – | – | 227-422Mt @ 22-32% Fe* |
| Joplin-Hendrix Line | – | – | 151-281Mt @ 22-32% Fe* |
| Southern Targets | – | – | 76-140Mt @ 22-32% Fe* |
| Total | 5,433 | 103.6Mt @ 26.5% Fe |
Exploration targets: Buxton has a total exploration target at the Zanthus Project of between 0.7 and 1.3 billion tonnes* that will incorporate the JORC resource estimates yet to be defined over the remaining target areas (see table below for individual prospect details).
Exploration/outlook: While the company has delineated a moderate sized JORC complaint resource at the Cohen prospect, there is strong potential exploration upside presented at the remaining targets within the Zanthus Project area.
* The potential quality and grade of the Zanthus Exploration Target is conceptual in nature. There has been insufficient exploration to define a Mineral Resource and its uncertain if further exploration will result in the determination of a Mineral Resource.
