Asra Minerals Limited - A Triple Play in the Making
Asra Minerals Limited
A triple play in the making
Asra Minerals Limited (ASX:SRR) is an exploration company, chasing gold, rare earths and critical minerals (RRE) in Western Australia’s Eastern Goldfields. The company’s major asset is the Mt Stirling Project (100%) with a material JORC resource of 118.4koz (Au) and an emerging RRE opportunity (Yttria). Recent drilling results have underpinned the discovery of rare earths across a potential 3.6km strike length (with upside). On-going works could deliver material increases in MREs across the gold prospects to progress through to a commercial decision point and an initial declaration at Yttria. The macro-outlook for gold prices remains strong, particularly in a global inflationary environment, whilst the accelerating transition towards renewables in a lower-carbon world is demand positive for rare earths and critical minerals. The company’s capacity to work or accelerate its assets is dependent on continued access to working capital, likely through recourse to equity markets.
Business model
Asra Minerals is an exploration company located in the Eastern Goldfields of WA near Leonora. The major project at Mt Stirling is primarily in an early-stage exploration phase but does include a JORC resource of 2.3Mt containing 118.4koz Au with a grade of 1.6g/t. Recent drilling results also support an emerging RRE play. As an exploration company, the ability to work through the projects and opportunities in a timely fashion will be constrained by access to working capital as required, at this stage through recourse to equity markets. Subsequent to the end of the June quarter, the company completed a A$2.7mn placement, primarily to further rare earths assaying and metallurgical test work; and resource definition and exploration drilling across the company’s gold prospects.
Mt Stirling...building gold resources and chasing REE
The Mt Stirling Project comprises gold and rare earths opportunities. The gold project covers 10 gold prospects and includes a JORC-defined minerals resource (MRE). Activity over the last quarter was primarily drilling, adjacent to the current deposits at MS Viserion and Stirling Well, seeking to build out the booked resources. The company was able to record significant new gold intercepts across the target areas, particularly at the Estera prospect and is in the process of updating the MRE including a maiden MRE for Estera. Recently the company has also declared a rare-earths discovery, identifying cobalt and scandium mineralisation over the Wishbone prospect to complement the previously declared discovery at the Yttria prospect. Mineralogical studies completed during the current quarter suggest the rare-earths’ assemblage is ‘...conducive to low-cost processing’. Metallurgical studies are in train. The company is permitted to drill up to 50,000m to further define the extent of the REE mineralisation, particularly evaluating the extensions between the Yttria and Wishbone prospects. Asra is aiming to declare a maiden JORC resource at Yttria in Q4’22 subject to completion of further drilling.
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