The company says the project now contains 38.3 million tonnes of high-purity white silica sands, grading 99% using a 98.5% cut-off grade, up from November's maiden resource of 12.8Mt.

 

The eastern resource area also contains a maiden indicated resource of 5.4Mt.

 

Executive chairman Theo Psaros said today's boost to resources would provide a basis for further exploration and resource growth of the eastern resource, and increased Metallica's confidence in a pathway to development, pending the outcomes of metallurgical studies. 

 

The company is confident of additional growth with further drilling.

 

The expectation is the resource can be converted into a premium product for global markets using standard processing techniques.

 

Consultant Ausrocks has suggested there is a large but unassessed potential resource of coloured sands that requires additional work, and that a planned, gridded program over the entire resource, dependent on the establishment of new access tracks, should be drilled to refusal to intersect the deeper coloured sands, and better define the areas and thicknesses of the white and cream sands.

 

A LIDAR survey has also been recommended to better understand the project where there was an exploration target of 20-100Mt grading 96.9-99.6%.

 

Metallica is hoping to advance to a scoping study. 

 

The resource is within the designated Port of Cape Flattery boundary, which is excluded from the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. 

 

The project is also adjacent to the world class Cape Flattery silica sand mining and shipping operation owned by Mitsubishi Corporation, and Diatreme Resources' Galalar project, where there are resources of 47.5Mt and reserves of 30.9Mt at 99.28% silica at Nob Point.

 

Resources have also jumped for the second time this year, up 25% to, up 25% on February's 38Mt.

 

The company started the year with A$2.4 million cash.

 

Metallica shares were steady at 4.2c today, valuing the company at $13.6 million.