Hardey aims to establish vanadium resource

Hardey Resources (ASX:HDY) has completed due diligence on four highly prospective vanadium projects in Queensland. These are currently owned by Vanadium Mining (VanMin), a group Hardey intends to acquire.

The delineation of recent data has increased confidence in the group’s ability to geologically model, estimate and report under the JORC (2012) Code.

Importantly, Hardey has identified further historic evidence that there are 383 Aircore drill holes targeting the Toolebuc Formation along a 150 kilometre north-south trending strike which runs through the Spike, Cera and Petrie projects and within the Sharptooth prospect as indicated below.

Double the drill holes initially reported

This was a key finding as it is nearly double the circa 170 drill holes initially reported on August 13, 2013.

Management views this development as extremely positive given that it further de-risks the prospectivity for Queensland projects.

Touching on the key takeaways, Hardey Resources executive chairman, Terence Clee said, “The geology team have done a superb job uncovering incremental data points which enhances the prospect of generating a JORC compliant resource across the four Queensland projects and de-risks them further.

“Moving forward, the Board is increasingly optimistic that Hardey Resources can develop future vanadium supply chains from Australia and Argentina judging by the encouraging results already evidenced.”

Of course anything that occurs in future is speculative at this stage and investors should seek professional financial advice if considering this stock for their portfolio.

Shallow mineralisation

Encouragingly, the average drill hole depth remains shallow at 30 metres, while elevated vanadium pentoxide (V2O5) assay results verify heightened mineral prospectivity across the projects.

Assay results included 3 metres at 0.31% V2O5 from 4 metres, including 0.5 metres at 0.39% within the Sharptooth prospect.

There was also a wider intersection of 5 metres at 0.48% V2O5 from 10 metres and 3 metres at 0.47 metres from 2 metres within the Cera prospect.

Exploration could add further value

The historic data review across the Spike, Cera and Petrie projects confirmed a typically thick mineralised zone, with an average 0.23% V2O5 content.

However, indicative pXRF values of up to 0.587% V2O5 have been reported in Cera suggesting increased mineralisation potential across the projects, subject to samples being fully assayed.

Management believes the drilling methods employed across the projects could be improved by increasing the depth and utilising larger diameter drill-cores.

Typically, the Toolebuc Formation zones within the projects were not tested below 30 metres.

Potential for economic open pit mining

As many of the historic boreholes are interpreted to terminate prematurely, not capturing the entire mineralised sequence, the full potential of the project areas is still to be realised.

Consequently, there is the potential for significant exploration upside from undertaking a more thorough drilling program.

As the elevated mineralisation typically occurs in shallow environments, the projects could be amenable to shallow, open-pit mining methods, adding to their potential economic viability.