OD6 samples high grade gold at Nevada fluorspar project

Our US critical minerals Investment OD6 Metals (ASX: OD6) just found high grade gold at its fluorspar project in Nevada.

While sampling for fluorspar (a critical mineral needed for hydrofluoric acid and the etching of computer chips), OD6 returned rock samples grading up to 6.31g/t gold.

(source)

We are in OD6 for fluorspar BUT OD6’s fluorspar is known to sit in an epithermal system, and epithermal systems are best known for hosting gold.

AND given Nevada is home to some of the biggest gold deposits today’s news was pretty interesting.

(source)

So gold and fluorspar showing up together here has a bit of precedent historiclly.

Here is the existing fluorspar mineralisation with the new gold targets along it:

(source)

Of course, this hasn’t been drill tested yet (except for a few holes done back in the 50’s targeting fluorspar which all hit), we won't know what is really down there until OD6 drills it.

What else is OD6 up to?

Today's gold is a bonus, the main game at Quinn is still fluorspar.

We are most keen to see OD6 get drilling underway, and it is currently progressing the permits needed for that maiden drill program.

The fluorspar mapped at surface is also shaping up like it could all be linked at depth, just like an iceberg.

(source)

Showing any sort of scale at these grades would change the story here pretty quickly, we think.

The US government is already funding domestic fluorspar a US$169M (up to US$250M) supply contract went to ~A$71M capped Ares Strategic Mining, the only permitted fluorspar mine in the US;

(source)

Plus OD6 has explicitly mentioned prior that saying OD6 could pursue fast-tracked permitting under a FAST-41 application for its project:

(source)

Grade matters because fluorspar is sold in two classes:

• Metspar (60–96% fluorspar) used in steelmaking, and
• Acidspar (>97% fluorspar) used in semiconductors, batteries and defence.

(source)

You can read our latest deep dive on the project (written before the gold update) here: OD6: Pulls out “exceptional high grade fluorspar mineralisation from surface” card.

What's next for OD6?

🔄 Target generation for US fluorspar project

We want to see OD6 sample in and around the old workings on its project, run some geophysics and generate high priority drill targets ahead of its maiden drilling program.

Milestones:

• ✅ Rock chips
• ✅ Channel sampling
• ✅ Historic drill results
• 🔄 Digitisation of scanned paper maps and cross-sections into a 3D geological model
• ✅ Soil/channel sampling
• 🔲 Geophysics
• 🔲 Drill targets generated

Strategic / Government Engagement for fluorspar in the US

• 🔲 Engage with US Department of War, Department of Energy, or DLA regarding domestic fluorspar supply
• 🔲 Explore strategic partnerships or offtake discussions