OD6 Metals (ASX:OD6) Quinn Fluorspar Project identifies multiple new high priority drill targets
OD6 Metals has reported the results of recent soil geochemistry completed along the regional target alteration zone from Dress Circle to Mammoth at the Quinn Fluorspar Project in Nevada, USA.
The program has identified multiple new high priority drill targets, while soil geochemistry defines a fertile mineralised corridor extending more than 8km, with the Horseshoe to Spar corridor potentially linked over a core target area exceeding 1.5km.
Highlights
Multiple new high priority drill targets identified at the Quinn Fluorspar Project.
Fluorine in soil values of up to 31,800ppm F, approximately 6.5% CaF₂, recorded at North Horseshoe Canyon.
Soil geochemistry defines a fertile mineralised corridor extending more than 8km, with the Horseshoe to Spar corridor potentially linked over a core target area exceeding 1.5km.
Five soil samples returned more than 20,000ppm F across a 150m strike length at North Horseshoe Canyon.
New target zones identified at North Horseshoe Canyon, North Horseshoe, Big Jim to Spar Ridge and Dress Circle.
The announcement follows the Company's exercise of its option agreement to acquire the Quinn Fluorspar Project, located approximately 220km north of Las Vegas.
The project hosts very high grade fluorspar mineralisation of more than 40% CaF₂ at the Mammoth and Horseshoe Projects in replacement and breccia style mineralisation mapped over approximately 9,000m² and 3,000m² respectively.
The Company also noted that a number of other fluorspar occurrences are present across the wider project area, with reported historical rock chip results of up to 98.6% CaF₂.
The recent exploration program comprised 320 soil samples collected around the Horseshoe, Mammoth and Big Jim prospects.
According to the Company, the program targeted areas outside the main deposits where epithermal alteration had been identified in satellite imagery.
The Company stated that fluorine is the key marker for fluorspar because CaF₂ contains 48.9% fluorine by weight, while principal component analysis combined fluorine with ten additional trace elements to identify a fluorspar related geochemical signature.
Surface soil results show an epithermal footprint extending for more than 8km, with a central zone stretching from Horseshoe Mine through North Horseshoe to Big Jim over approximately 1.5km in strike length.
The Company stated that the fluorine in soils at North Horseshoe Canyon is remarkably high and exceeds values recorded in the immediate vicinity of the Horseshoe and Mammoth deposit areas, with five samples exceeding 20,000ppm F and a peak value of 31,800ppm F.
The Company also stated that the fluorine in soils is likely derived from mineralised zones at the base of the jasperoid and that mineralisation at Big Jim is now inferred to continue as a single target zone beneath the Lithocap through to North Horseshoe Canyon, presenting a 750m shallowly dipping target zone that potentially continues farther to the south west, with this area slated for immediate follow up work.
The Company also reported strong fluorspar pathfinder anomalies at North Horseshoe, where the pathfinder elements indicate the potential for mineralised continuations beneath the silica cap.
Big Jim to Spar Ridge returned strong pathfinder elements and has been prioritised for mapping and surface sampling, while Dress Circle is described as a largely unexplored target area where aerial and satellite imagery indicate considerable alteration and strong pathfinder anomalies confirm the alteration, with expanded soil sampling planned.
Soil lines completed across Horseshoe and Mammoth showed strong fluorine in soil anomalies as well as the pathfinders, with fluorine anomalism ranging from 8,000ppm to more than 16,000ppm F.
OD6 Managing Director Brett Hazelden said,
"These results are a great outcome for OD6 and underscore the growing scale of our Quinn Fluorspar Project and demonstrate that mineralisation extends well beyond the historically mined deposits."
The Quinn Fluorspar deposits form part of the Great Basin of Nevada and are hosted in Paleozoic sediments including the Pogonip Limestone Formation and the Simonson Dolomite.
The Company stated that Mesozoic to Cenozoic intrusions and volcanism resulted in a significant epithermal event through the district, with fluorspar deposited in epithermal breccias, veins and as replacement deposits parallel to the bedding in the limestone.
The Company also noted that the United States is currently 100% reliant on imports of fluorspar and that fluorspar is listed on the US Critical Minerals list, with applications in battery technologies, AI chip manufacture, nuclear fuels industry, aerospace and defence technologies.
OD6's next steps are to finalise the shareholder approval process, receive pending assay results, complete geological modelling and drill targeting, integrate into permitting activities, lodge bulk sample permit applications, commence metallurgical testwork programs and prepare a maiden drilling program.
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