Diatreme Resources has nearly doubled the resource of its Si2 silica sand mine as it looks to bring online a critical minerals project set to supply global solar photovoltaic (PV) industries.
The Si2 resource estimate has climbed from 124.1 million tonnes (Mt) to 235Mt, supporting a total Diatreme silica sand resource base of more than 310Mt across the company’s various projects in far north Queensland.
It comes after Diatreme undertook a 1848m drilling program in late 2022 comprising of aircore, hand auger and vacuum drill holes.
“Our ongoing successful exploration of the Si2 dune complex continues to provide outstanding results,” Diatreme chief executive officer Neil McIntyre said.
“Delivery of the resource expansion is very well timed as we start to finish the inputs into the scoping study for the Northern silica project, which is now further underpinned with this significant resource upgrade.”
Northern silica and Diatreme’s Galalar silica sand project (resource estimate: 75.5Mt) are situated at the north and south of a single tenement, covering an extent of a large dune field which has been accumulating sand for millions of years.
Drilling has shown dunes to be up to 54.7m thick, with an average of 11.7m, spanning an area of more than 1200 hectares.
Diatreme is advancing a scoping study to determine the economic feasibility of establishing the Si2 mine, which could enable the “fast tracking” of a second independent major high purity silica operation.
The other major Australian silica sand mine is Cape Flattery – owned by Mitsubishi Corporation – which ships roughly 3Mt of silica sand from the operation each year, bound for Japan and other parts of Asia.
Silica has traditionally been used in glass, foundry and chemical industries, but it has a growing profile in the renewable energy sector, where the commodity is important in the manufacture of photovoltaic cells in solar panels.
Diatreme will continue exploration throughout 2023 to accompany scoping study developments, while bulk sample metallurgical testwork and environmental studies are also advancing.
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