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soutH AustrALiA

Dam it: Another Olympic-size

proposition in SA

xpectations are growing in South Aus- quality discoveries that have a realistic Meanwhile, with more geotechnical
Etralia that another colossal IOCG dis- chance of feasibly being developed into and geo-metallurgical data on hand from
covery is in the making. operational assets within an appropriate the third phase of drilling at Oak Dam,
It was revealed at PDAC in March that timeframe. In practice, this means more BHP’s understanding of the deposit is
BHP Ltd would be steaming ahead with discoveries like Oak Dam in South Aus- growing, with drilling continuing to take
resource drilling this year at Oak Dam tralia,” Tyler said. the project forward.
West, 65km south of Olympic Dam, in “In 2017, our metals exploration team In its half year report (to December 31)
SA’s copper heartland. took a fresh approach to this mature released mid-February, BHP’s green-
A backgrounder to the discovery of district. They challenged the paradigm fields exploration update included that
Oak Dam was delivered at the virtual and looked very closely at the science Oak Dam had been transferred to the
PDAC convention in March by the explo- through the lens of the mineral systems Minerals Australia Planning and Techni-
ration team at BHP, after chief technical framework and the knowledge we had cal team for assessment ahead of the
officer Laura Tyler had outlined what the gained of IOCGs from Olympic Dam. start of resource drilling expected to be-
company believed to be the two biggest “In just four years, the team made a gin mid-year.
challenges facing industry: scarcity of discovery under 800m of cover, outlining The confirmation of high-grade min-
high-quality resources and the necessity mineralisation with intercepts including eralised copper intersections (with as-
of higher standards of sustainability. 58m @ 2.49% copper, and 1.2 g/t gold sociated gold, uranium and silver) has
Innovation was critical to the unearth- over wide areas. It is mineral system un- encouraged BHP to pursue Oak Dam
ing the next generation of new mines, derstanding and application that will dis- further.
which were likely to be found in areas of tinguish success in the future.” A maiden resource for Oak Dam is as
high-country risk, or under cover in low- Olympic Dam continues to power on – eagerly anticipated as the first numbers
er-risk jurisdictions, Tyler said. FY2021 guidance of 180,000-205,000t from Rio Tinto Ltd’s equally impressive
“Discovery of what we call ‘Tier 1’ re- copper – with underground development Winu discovery, in the Paterson Range,
sources has therefore become more into the Southern Mine Area providing Western Australia. That resource arrived
technically challenging, but at the same access to higher-grade copper, while the amid high levels of interest and the focus
time, more engaging. The other part to commissioning of a replacement refinery on Oak Dam will be just as intense, with
this, which is many times more difficult, crane is expected to be completed in the Fortescue Metals Group Ltd in particular
is finding actual mines…large, high- March quarter. likely to be paying close attention given
its own nearby interests.
Since 2019, Fortescue has been earn-
ing a 51%-interest in EL6416 – part of
Tasman Resources Ltd’s Lake Torrens
project, 30km north of Olympic Dam.
By mid-March, Fortescue was esti-
mated to be about halfway to its initial
$4 million spend required to earn a 51%
stake in Lake Torrens. A further $4 mil-
lion investment will see Fortescue’s claim
on the project reach 80%.
“Fortescue has a full operating team in
SA and this JV is quite possibly their flag-
ship exploration play of this nature. The
size, location, proximity to Olympic Dam
plus now having the core from 19 holes;
this has to rank highly. If you were explor-
ing in SA this is what you’d want,” Tas-
man executive chairman Greg Solomon
told Paydirt, after the company’s share
price had taken off from 5c to 10c/share
before settling at 7c at the time of print.
Despite being a long-time resident of
SA’s exploration scene, it has been Tas-
man’s 30% interest in Eden Innovations
Ltd, the driving force behind EdenCrete®
An enhanced gravity image of the drill hole locations at the Vulcan prospect at the
Tasman/Fortescue Lake Torrens JV

Page 26 aPRIL 2021 aUSTRaLIa’S PaYDIRT