Arrowsmith North
The Arrowsmith North Silica Sand project is VRX Silica’s most advanced project.
Arrowsmith North is located about 270km north of Perth, Western Australia, and adjacent to the Brand Highway and Geraldton-Eneabba railway – giving the company a direct connection to the Geraldton Port, and therefore bulk exports.
Arrowsmith North has a Total Mineral Resource of 513 MT at 98.0% SiO2, and a Total Ore Reserve of 221 MT at 99.5% SiO2. The company published a bankable feasibility study based on an initial 25-year mine life.
The initial $40m capital expenditure (CapEx) is currently being reviewed to reflect present day costings required to build the 2Mtpa operation, and the project is expected to yield $2.7bn in revenue over the initial 25-year mine life.
Permitting for Arrowsmith North is advanced and, based on current estimates on timing after consultation with the EPA, the final assessment is expected imminently. A short construction phase, expected to take six months, will begin soon after final approval, and the project will then begin producing high-grade silica sand for international markets.
The Arrowsmith North Resource area focuses on a prominent broad dune structure and avoids existing infrastructure and potential conservation areas. The potential volume is estimated from the base of drilling to the top of the dune and assumes that between 70% and 100% of the dune is silica sand. The estimate uses an in-situ bulk density of 1.6t/m3 to calculate the tonnage. The initial target grade of +95% SiO2 was considered conservative as all samples, except two, taken from the area exceeded this value and processing demonstrated the in-situ sand can be beneficiated to a saleable product.
All Mineral Resources are reported in accordance with the JORC Code 2012.
Significantly, the Mineral Resource includes an unpredicted 313 million tonnes of white sand at 98.7% SiO2. A high-grade final product can be produced from the higher-grade feed stock which is in demand for the glassmaking, foundry and ceramics industries.
This Mineral Resource estimation allowed the Company to finalise estimates of Ore Reserves to support the Company’s BFS.
The Indicated Mineral Resource is predominately within the Mining Lease application area and the majority is anticipated to convert to Probable Reserves, and hence an extremely long-life mining project.
View the Arrowsmith Mineral Resource
