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There probably is copper somewhere, but they haven't found any deposit. The surface samples had high grade copper and silver, and probably came from artisanal mining. The license area and magnetic response are so vast that they have to focus on small areas. The point is there could be anything there given time to explore it all.
Shatnersbassoon1, they were looking for copper/gold. But then the drill results came back full of titanium at high grades. Since they are confident there isn't an issue extracting titanium which much more valuable, they switched all resources to a production plan for high value titanium products.
Dustyslay, I only post when I think important points need to be made about companies I am invested in. Not interested in tit for tat character assassinations or small talk.
Kongolasse, the orphan period is a time after the resource value and economics are already known. For example, Greatland Gold is in an obvious orphan period and has been for some time now. With Empire the value and economics have not yet been revealed, so really we should think of mineralogical and metallurgical studies as part of the discovery phase of that cycle.
Genghis15, that may apply to conventional mines. What do you think the SP will do when all studies prove a high value TIO2 product can be produced and a JORC compliant resource of billions of tons is defined? Do you think the market cap will still be £37m?
If you read the RNS you will see that the proving of TIO2 extraction and removal of impurities will be completed and documented before a JORC compliant resource is defined. That's why they have teamed up with Curtin Uninversity and CSIRO:
o Definitive mineralogical characterisation studies of titanium mineralisation and related host alteration mineral assemblages to further aid both on-going metallurgical studies and exploration targeting of high-grade zones;
o Definitive metallurgical characterisation studies to establish ore character, beneficiation steps to separate titanium bearing minerals from gangue minerals, titanium minerals leachability and solution chemistry, and final TiO2 product assessment;
o Finalising a process flowsheet and Demonstration Plant design that will establish, confirm and provide valuation metrics for an economic process and resultant high-value saleable product;
o Definition of a maiden JORC-compliant Mineral Resource Estimate that will provide the basis for a mining option study and eventual ore reserves;
Well it might not be totally clear, but take a step back and think it through. The TIO2 covers almost all of the license area, so makes no sense that Century can retain rights to the while of Pitfield and Empire would not be scaling the whole project up and spending money if they did not have the 70%.
99icecream, there is nothing in the JV that states copper and gold only. Stop imagining things and read it again.
It doesn't matter who is right or wrong about share price predictions. It also doesn't have anything to do with the fundamentals of the company, otherwise how do people explain the GSCU drop? No, it's just the dynamics of the market with people selling between news because they are like children who can't stand waiting. With less than 600m shares in issue this will go up just as much as it went down with favourable news.
From what I've seen so far, Empire has already identified the Australian Gov. depts and are on a mission to get funding that way. I would think Pitfield is of high strategic importance to the country and I can't see the government dismissing this opportunity. The metallurgical /processing analysis and pilot plant design must be completed and submitted to get significant funding.
The current drill program is due to be completed by the end of next month. The first diamond drill cores could already be on their way to the labs, and SB has said the turnaround is not long since the lab is fairly local. Most of the drilling is focused on the sandstone beds which have been identified as the most highly mineralised zones - we are looking for consistency of grades. This drill campaign will also contribute to a maiden resource definition. We can expect more news on the mineralogical and processing studies also.
I suppose now we have to suffer Glennhoss becoming an even worse troll than he already was now he's out. If there was ever anyone who fits the definition of a "bitter clinger", he is it.
Close the door on your way out.
Glennhoss, stop embarrassing yourself.
That article make several false comparisons such as comparing the final TIO2 from rutile after processing to the TI02 content of titanite before processing, and lies such as asserting that it is extraordinarily cheap to extract titanium from rutile. Don't fall for this heap of BS.
I don't think anyone is controlling the SP except the people buying and selling, and a normal varying spread. Probably the SP will rise when we get closer to drill results.
Yes Traindriver, that is key. Once lab tests prove that any kind of product can be produced there's no way people can pick these shares up at 7.5p. As SB said, the process will evolve. It is likely that lab tests will result in multiple end products being proved over time. The data from lab tests will be used to form a pilot plant design.
Dusty, it really boils down to the final product which is just about the same as any other product regardless of its original source. All TI02 sources require significant processing to get the final product. Tintanite in the quantities found at Pitfield provide clear advantages.
Wet table analysis:
"Explorative metallurgical investigations have focused mainly on wet gravity separation to beneficiate crushed and ground ore samples before further processing, with around 90% of the heavy minerals such as ilmenite, Ti-oxides and Fe-oxides recovered to the concentrate streams with 84% recovery of the titanite; titanite having a slightly lower specific gravity. The very good performance of the wet table in recovering the titanium minerals into a heavy mineral concentrate provides confidence that these minerals can be recovered by simple wet gravity separation; a common mineral processing method. TIMA analysis of the wet gravity separation products, along with the CSIRO microprobe results, estimate that titanite accounts for approximately two-thirds of the TiO2 contained in the two wet gravity samples. Each of these samples is a representative composite of RC drillhole samples collected along significantly long (88m and 190m) mineralised intervals from near-surface to depth. The selected RC drillholes for these composite samples are located many kilometres from each other at either end of the 40km long, giant mineral system. "
It would not surprise me if Pitfield contains multiple heavy minerals in different concentrations and in different areas, given how little has been explored.