Proof of top-calibre Orient indium grades

The results are in from overseas testing, and Iltani Resources has announced assays as high as 1070g/t indium from its Orient project in Far North Queensland. The company turned offshore when its samples exceeded the upper limit of 500 ppm indium under the assay method available at ALS Townsville. “Having submitted samples from our over-range indium results to ALS in Canada for further analysis, we are excited to report what we believe to be Australia’s highest-grade reported indium drilling results of 1,070 g/t indium and 870 g/t indium from samples 122725 and 122757," Iltani managing director Donald Garner said. "We knew Orient had potential to host a high-grade silver-indium deposit when we acquired the project, however these results from our Stage 2 drilling program have exceeded our expectations." Geoscience Australia has designated indium as a critical mineral and it also has this classification in the United States, Japan, South Korea, India and the United Kingdom. With indium trading at $US230–260 per kg, Mr Garner said it represented an important part of the value at Orient. "Historical metallurgical test work indicates that the indium will be recovered to a zinc-indium-silver concentrate grading 47-48 per cent zinc, 2000 g/t indium and 200 g/t silver," he said. "We look forward to Mining One finalising a model for the Orient system, using the historical drilling, Iltani’s drilling, reprocessed geophysical data plus Nick Tate’s mapping, which will allow us to optimise remaining drillholes in our Stage 2 drilling program, set to commence within weeks, as we aim to further define Orient as a world-class silver-lead-zinc-indium resource.” Iltani said the mineralisation intercepted to date would support both conceptual open pit and underground development. Iltani completed five RC drillholes at Orient West for 988m drilled (ORR017 to ORR021) in December 2023 as part of the Stage 2 RC drilling program. Updated results for drill hole ORR021 include 1070 g/t indium and 0.84 per cent tin in a sample from 117-118m downhole and 870 g/t indium and 0.14 per cent tin in a sample from 187-188m downhole. Iltani believes that these are the highest ever reported indium grades in drilling in Australia. Almost the entire global production of indium comes from zinc smelter byproducts, with production estimated to be 990 tonnes last year (66 per cent of that being from China). Its applications include flat-panel displays, smart windows, polymer-based electronics, thin film photovoltaics, glass doors of supermarket freezers, and architectural windows. Iltani said the advent of fifth generation (5G) technologies continued to increase demand for indium. Indium phosphide-based substrates are used in 5G fibre-optic telecommunications networks where InP lasers and receivers send data through fibre-optic lines, which allow for lower latency, reduced signal loss, and faster speeds. Other uses include low melting-point specialty alloys (solders and soft-metal high vacuum seals), microchips and semiconductors.

Proof of top-calibre Orient indium grades

Industry Queensland

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