Inside Black Canyon’s (ASX:BCA) manganese-focused developments through March quarter

Highlights

• Black Canyon (ASX:BCA) reported major developments across its manganese-focused portfolio in the Pilbara region of Western Australia in the latest quarter ended 31 March 2023.
• During the quarter, the company acquired granted licence E46/1383, boosting its foothold in the Balfour Manganese Field.
• Flanagan Bore Project’s MRE stands at 171Mt @ 10.3% Mn containing 18Mt of Mn.
• The company plans a first pass drill program across targets in June to confirm grade and depth of mineralisation.

Pilbara-focused manganese developer and explorer Black Canyon Limited (ASX: BCA) has shared its activities report for the latest quarter ended 31 March 2023.

The company has been heading forth with its manganese exploration and development activities across the Pilbara region of Western Australia. It operates a portfolio of tenements prospective for “Supergene Balfour” style manganese deposits (medium-grade Mn/Fe) and “Woodie-Woodie” hydrothermal (high-grade Mn). Presently, the company controls land holdings of around 2,500km², marking a huge footprint in a proven and productive manganese belt.

Latest acquisition in Balfour Manganese Field

During the quarter, Black Canyon completed 100% acquisition of granted licence E46/1383, covering ~351km² in the eastern Pilbara.

The new tenement consolidates BCA’s holdings over prospective manganese enriched shale horizons (75km strike) from Balfour South, Sixty Sixer, Flanagan Bore and the past producing manganese mine of Nicholas Downs.

The tenement includes multiple outcropping manganese enriched prospects with a continuous zone of mineralisation spanning over 5km (KR1 prospect). So far, no historic drilling has been completed on the outcropping mineralisation, which the company believes offers a huge opportunity to discover and deliver Mineral Resources.

The size of the geological basin, potential for shallow open pit mining, mineral resources detected, distance from port, and a likely beneficiated Mn oxide concentrate grade product (30-33% Mn) reflect the emerging potential of the Balfour Manganese Field. 

Balfour South Project

The ASX-listed company evaluated the strike extents of the Balfour South Mn deposit to the west and east of the mining lease application, and ~1500m of strike extent has been interpreted under cover to the west. Also, several kilometres of potential strike have been interpreted to the southeast.

During the mapping phase, Black Canyon gathered a number of surface rock chip samples with elevated manganese grades, related to supergene enrichment process similar to those observed at Flanagan Bore.

Flanagan Bore Project Update

Source: Company presentation 

The project’s MRE stands at 171Mt @ 10.3% Mn containing 18Mt of Mn. Across the LR1 and FB3 Mineral Resources, a subset of mineralisation (shallow and high-grade) has been defined at an elevated cut-off grade of 11% manganese and totals 40 Mt @ 13% manganese.

The results from metallurgical testwork, based on PQ drill core, on samples from the LR1 and FB3 deposits returned grades as high as 33% Mn. This has boosted confidence in the ability of the large scale, shale hosted manganese deposits to return a consistent and reliable manganese product. 

Pickering Target

The manganese enriched shale target at Pickering has aspects similar to that of Flanagan Bore in terms of scale, surface mineralisation and widespread manganese scree haloes. According to the company, this similarity boosts the focus on defining significant mineralisation zones with grade ranges in line with Flanagan Bore.

Additional targets under BCA

From Hurricane (E46/1394) and Davis Creek (E46/1382), the company has assessed numerous smaller footprint, higher-grade targets. The company has mapped these targets as either manganese-enriched shale, hybrid hydrothermal/sediment enrichment typically associated with the Balfour Shale or hydrothermal contact mineralisation between the Carawine Dolomite and the overlying Pinjian Chert.

Source: Company update  

BCA stock performance

The company shares have gone up by over 4.5% in the last six months. The stock traded at AU$0.230 on 11 May 2023.