Alien Metals (UFO) has entered into a new agreement to acquire the Vivash Gorge Iron Ore Project in the Pilbara region of Western Australia from the ASX-listed firm Zenith Minerals.
The minerals exploration and development firm says it considers Vivash Gorge as “a strategic acquisition” to add to the IOCA portfolio of DSO iron ore projects within the Pilbara Region.
Under the terms of the deal, Alien Metals will pay an initial £56,500 in shares to Zenith Minerals with further payments subject to certain milestones being reached, it explained. Vivash Gorge covers about 47km2 and is located 60km south of Alien’s Brockman project.
Fortescue Mining Group Ltd, one of the world's largest iron ore producers, has defined a high-grade iron ore resource of 28 million tonnes at 58.8% iron over the neighbouring Vivash SW Resource, which abuts the eastern central boundary of the Vivash Gorge tenement.
Based on the geological mapping and proximity and strike of the Vivash SW Resource, Alien considers that the Vivash SW Resource continues into the Vivash Gorge tenement, providing a 'walk up' drill target while several identical geological targets on strike also remain untested.
Since a Programme of Work (POW) for drilling of up to 150 RC holes of a maximum of 200m each has already been granted to Zenith already, the group will be allowed immediate access.
Bill Brodie Good, CEO & Technical Director, said: "The potential acquisition of the Vivash Gorge iron ore project from Zenith will be a great addition to our growing iron ore portfolio.”
Addressing shareholders this morning, Brodie Good explained: “Given the adjacent DSO grade deposits defined by iron ore major Fortescue Metals Group, coupled with what we believe to be the tenement's highly prospective yet untested geology, Vivash Gorge provides Alien with a third strategically located high grade iron ore project within the Pilbara region.”
"With drilling approvals already in place, we see the immediate potential to get on the ground and test the numerous targets that are on strike from Fortescue's Vivash SW deposit."
Alien Metals has also agreed to grant Zenith an ongoing royalty payment whilst in production of $1.00/dwt (Dry Wet Tonnes) of the quantity of shipped ore derived from the licence area.
View from Vox
On Friday, Alien initiated its Phase 4 Reverse Circulation drilling programme at the Hancock Iron Ore Project, which forms part of the Hamersley Iron Ore Project in Western Australia.
The RC drilling programme totalling around 2,100 metres will aim to further increase the geological confidence in the existing JORC compliant Inferred Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) at the project of 10.4Mt @ 60.4% of iron (Fe), as first reported in September 2021.
The minerals exploration and development company said it will aim to upgrade a portion of the MRE to indicated status - covering ridges C and E of the project - which would support upcoming mine planning, following the receipt of assays from the Phase 4 RC programme.
Initial drill testing will be undertaken across the around 3km strike length of targets on ridges F and G, which were recently defined from surface sampling from the Phase 3 RC programme.
The news followed Alien’s recent identification of further high-grade ridge targets at the Hancock Iron Ore Project. Bill Brodie Good, CEO and Technical Director, told investors that ongoing exploration across the Hancock Project continues to deliver “outstanding results.”
The Group said it was “very pleased” with the continued positive exploration work and that it will continue to develop all these targets and new untested ground “in the coming months.”
Meanwhile, after a Covid-induced delay of two years, Alien told investors at the end of March 2022 that it had finally commenced the next round of exploration on its three Mexican assets.
After fostering a relationship with the local Mexican community during the pandemic, Alien was able to push ahead with what it considers to be a significant next stage of exploration.
The company believes this next stage is crucial for the further development of these projects, as maintaining the social licence to operate is vital to Alien’s approach to mineral exploration.
Alien also took the decision in February to combine the three programmes into a single, larger programme, to enable it to reduce overall costs and complete the programme more quickly.
It also expects the strong market dynamics for silver and copper, coupled with the projects’ geological potential, to provide shareholders with “very strong leverage” to any success.
Follow News & Updates from Alien Metals: