Black Canyon (ASX: BCA) reports global manganese mineral resource of 314 Mt at Balfour Manganese Field - Kalkine Media

Highlights

• Black Canyon has been adding tonnes with the completion of Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) for multiple deposits within the Balfour Manganese Field (BMF).
• The company has announced the Maiden MRE of 40 Mt @ 11.9% Mn (Inferred) for the Balfour East and Damsite deposits.
• The total Global MRE at BMF now stands at 314 Mt @ 10.5% manganese containing 33.1 Mt of manganese.
• Exploration Target Estimates (ETE) are also being estimated for the Balfour East and Pickering targets, with results expected next quarter.
• BCA is advancing its flowsheet design for battery grade high purity manganese sulphate (HPMSM), progressing the base case HPMSM process development in Australia.

Australian manganese explorer and developer, Black Canyon Limited (ASX: BCA) today revealed the Maiden MRE of 40 Mt @ 11.9% Mn (Inferred) containing 4.7 Mt of manganese for its 100% owned Balfour East and Damsite deposits within the BMF.

The total Global Mineral Resources identified by BCA at the Balfour Manganese Field, including Flanagan Bore, stands at 314 Mt @ 10.5% manganese classified as Measured (32%) Indicated (48%) and Inferred (20%) for 33.1 Mt of contained manganese.

This is what Black Canyon Executive Director Brendan Cummins said about the latest development:

The Australian and overseas government agencies have mandated to induce independent critical mineral and material supply chains for midstream and downstream processing, boding well for companies such as Black Canyon that are backing Australia first.

This has encouraged BCA to advance its flowsheet design for battery grade HPMSM, continue the base case HPMSM process development in Australia and enter collaboration with clients requiring long-term supplies of critical manganese compounds.

Balfour East and Damsite - Maiden MRE

For the MRE, review as well as validation process for reverse circulation drill results obtained from the Balfour East and Damsite prospects were completed.

Review process was conducted under the supervision of Greg Jones, a specialist consultant in MRE, metallurgy and processing technology.

The Balfour East and Damsite MRE have been defined using a subset of the RC drilling that covered around 84 holes over 2,896m of drilling.  

The MRE has been valued at 30 Mt @ 12.5% manganese at an elevated cut-off grade of 11% manganese.

BMF - Global Higher-Grade Manganese MRE

For the BMF MRE, Black Canyon estimated a higher-grade subset of mineralisation.

As of now, the higher-grade component totals 99 Mt @ 12.9% manganese for 12.8 Mt of contained manganese, at an elevated cut-off grade of 11% Mn.

Black Canyon is engaged in exploration target estimates for the Balfour East and Pickering targets and the results are expected in 1Q24.

The company plans to commence desktop studies to determine optimal value from across the significant BMF deposits, including a review of the scale of operations, multi pit or single pit scenarios, and transport logistics.

BCA shares traded at AU$0.115 at the time of writing on 12 December 2023.