Quick fire – industry news briefs

News updates in brief on Australian Silica Quartz Group, Australian Mines, Iltani Resources and more ... Australian Silica Quartz Group has received $1 million fee from Private Energy Partners towards its Quartz Hill project in North Queensland under the recently announced project development Heads of Agreement. This fee is for the exclusive right to purchase 10 million tonnes of metallurgical grade silicon quartz lump feedstock from the mine gate at Quartz Hill at a 10 per cent discount. ASQ said the funds would be used for an exploration drilling program at Quartz Hill with the aim of establishing a mineral resource of at least 10Mt, a scoping study and application for a mining lease within the next year. Planning is underway for the drilling program, which is expected to commence during the September quarter. Metallurgical test results and newly received assays have confirmed an extensive zone of ionic adsorption clay REE mineralisation at the Kennedy project, starting from surface, according to DevEx Resources. It says ionic clay REE deposits are emerging as a credible source of highly sought-after REE, especially those used in the energy transition sector. Following a review of global deposit characteristics, DevEx targeted the tertiary clays at Kennedy - located south of Mount Garnet in North Queensland -for this style of deposit. Further low-impact drilling, both in-fill and step-out, is planned to commence this month. Critical minerals and base metals explorer Iltani Resources is making final preparations for the first drilling activities in more than 35 years at the Orient silver-lead-zinc-indium-antimony project near Herberton. “Our imminent start drilling at Orient represents an important step forward for Iltani, as we commence exploration activities after our recent successful ASX listing," managing director Donald Garner said. "We are eager to get to work exploring Orient, which we believe is Australia’s most exciting silver exploration target. It has additional potential as a lead-zinc-indium-antimony project, with indium and antimony both recognised as critical minerals.“Our Stage 1 RC drilling program represents the first drilling at Orient since 1988 and will target high- grade vein hosted mineralisation at Orient. We expect it will help us better understand the size and potential of the Orient mineralising system and set us on the path to delivering outstanding returns for our shareholders.” Sconi project proponent Australian Mines has received a 'please explain' from the ASX over the timing of announcements over the State Government granting the mining lease for its operations at Greenvale. Australian Mines released the announcement titled “Granted Greenvale Mining Lease”on the ASX Market Announcements Platform on July 5 at 1pm. The ASX noted a media article that day stating that Resources Minister Scott Stewart approved the mining lease on Tuesday and it was announced on the ASX on Wednesday. The company replied that its chief executive officer received an email from the Queensland Government Department of Resources at 12.48pm on July 5 advising that Mining Lease 10368 had been granted the previosu day. "The information was released to the market 12 minutes after being received by AUZ, which AUZ considers to be promptly and without delay," it said. Chatham Rock Phosphate has highlighted the benefits the 'game changing' CopperString transmission project will bring for its phosphate and selenium projects in Queensland. It has been announced that the Powerlink will build the $5 billion CopperString 2032 project, connecting the North West Minerals Province (NWMP) to the Northern Queensland Renewable Energy Zone and to the National Electricity Market. Chatham said the company’s Cloncurry-centered phosphate projects, namely the Cloncurry Distribution Hub and planned Korella MCP plant, would directly benefit from this infrastructure. And the Southern Connection planned to connect Cloncurry to Phosphate Hill would provide power to Chatham’s Korella North and Korella South mines, it said. The company’s Gunnerside selenium project, 20km west of Hughenden, would also benefit from the new electricity distribution facility at Hughenden.

Quick fire – industry news briefs

Industry Queensland

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