Resources Top 5: VRX gets green tick from WA’s EPA for silica sand mine

Just ministerial approval sits between VRX and a final pass for its Arrowsmith North silica sand mine in WA.

VRX expects confirmation of its environmental approval in three weeks. Pic: Getty Images

• VRX Silica lands green tick from WA EPA for sand mine

• D3 Energy up after starting helium and gas drill

• Aureka, Pinnacle and Noronex up on no news

Your standout small cap resources stocks for Thursday, January 9, 2025.

VRX SILICA (ASX:VRX)

A big regulatory win has VRX Silica well up on Thursday after WA's Environmental Protection Agency supported the silica sand hopeful's Arrowsmith North project in WA's Mid West.

The publication of its report will trigger a three week review period by WA's Environment Minister, all well-timed given the WA government is not far away from an election and complementary shutdown period.

By and large the minister, in this case Labor's Reece Whitby, tends to support the decision of the EPA board.

The report is appealable but the EPA says it has confidence in mitigation measures proposed by VRX, which will need to clear close to 300 hectares of land to make way for a site producing up to 2Mtpa of high purity silica sand and operate for 30 years.

VRX MD Bruce Maluish called the publication of the EPA report a 'significant milestone' noting VRX had accepted the conditions attached following consultation with the watchdog, describing them as standard requirements for mining operations along with commitments made by the company.

"It is the culmination of determined persistence by VRX and its consultants for the Arrowsmith North permitting process over a long period of time," Maluish said.

"The company is now on the cusp of opening up a new industry in the Mid West region of Western Australia, with employment and other long-term benefits flowing to the state.

"Following a statutory three-week review period and resolution of any appeals, the proposal will be considered for approval by the Minister of Environment.”

Backed by Wilhelm Zours' Sparta AG, an early supporter of Azure Minerals and Spartan Resources (ASX:SPR) among numerous other ASX explorers, VRX raised $5m in a placement last month to support early development costs of Arrowsmith North.

Located 270km north of Perth, Arrowsmith North contains a proved and probable reserve of 221Mt at 99.6% SiO2, with a potential mine life of more than a century.

A BFS suggested it would cost $66.8 million to build at a scale of 2Mtpa, generating $650m in cash flow after finance and tax over an initial 25-year life.

Silica sand use has increased worldwide due to clean tech, with the flat glass market growing to service solar PV and e-glass installations.

Less than 1% of the output from the global sand mining industry has the correct properties to go into these high-end industries.

D3 ENERGY (ASX:D3E)

(Up on no news)

D3 began production testing at the Nooitgedacht Major well in South Africa's Free State this week, an old gold borehole which has been flowing gas since it was drilled in 1990.

It's part of D3's plans to become a natural helium producer, following the footsteps of nearby operator Renergen (ASX:RLT).

Nooitgedacht Major is located 43km north the of Bloemskraal area where multiple boreholes were tested in a program last year, with testing at the former to take place over two weeks.

"The production testing programme at Nooitgedacht Major will assist D3 Energy to assess the prospectivity of the northern area of ER315 and thereby increasing the Company’s knowledge of the gas migration processes across the broader permit area and potentially delineate another production fairway in the process," D3 revealed in a statement on Tuesday.

D3, which is also exploring for natural gas, suffered a setback with damage to a borehole called RBD12 last year inhibiting gas flow rates, but it did measure what the company termed "world class" helium concentrations of 6.2% after 12 days of sustained production in well RBD01.

Similar to Nooitgedacht, RBD01 was a gold exploration hole from 1982 which is still producing gas flows more than 40 years on.

An inert gas, demand for helium is rising in various applications including MRI scanners, as a cooling agent in nuclear reactors and to separate hot gases and cold fuel in rockets.

AUREKA (ASX:AKA)

(Up on no news)

The former Navarre Minerals has nearly doubled its share price since re-listing on the ASX late last year as it builds momentum for drilling at a suite of projects in the Victorian goldfields.

That had been the company's focus before its growth ambitions got in the way a few years back, acquiring the tired and costly Mt Carlton gold mine from Evolution Mining (ASX:EVN).

Having gone back to its roots, AKA has added corporate muscle to its board by enlisting Graeme Hunt as non-exec chair.

The boss of BHP's world class iron ore business ahead of the mining boom, Hunt was later managing director of Lihir Gold before its $9.5bn takeover by Newcrest (now Newmont) and held the MD's role at infrastructure and utility plays Broadspectrum and AGL Energy (ASX:AGL).

Aureka announced in December the start of drilling programs this month in Victoria, including extensional diamond drilling at Irvine in the Stawell Zone and follow up diamond drilling at Lawry in the Bendigo Zone-based Tandarra Gold JV.

Tandarra is a partnership with high-flying WA and Tasmanian gold miner Catalyst Metals, where 1000m is planned to follow up a 'successful' seven hole program completed in 2024 and where the highest grade results have included a hit of 12.9m at 33.1g/t Au.

Around 7000m will be punched into the ground, complemented by geophysics.

At Irvine, Aureka has a ~300,000oz inferred resource at the Resolution Lode, and could double that if an exploration target at Resolution and Adventure of 300-400,000oz is anything to go by.

The Stawell goldfield has delivered 6Moz of gold historically, 5Moz from the privately operated Magdala gold mine.

Irvine sits to the south, within the 1Moz Ararat goldfield.

PINNACLE MINERALS (ASX:PIM) and NORONEX (ASX:NRX)

(Up on no news)

Neither Pinnacle Minerals or Noronex have had news to report in 2025 yet, but both are being bought ahead of any new exploration programs.

Noronex is chasing copper on the Namibian side of the Kalahari copper belt, one of the hottest new exploration districts in the world.

The sedimentary hosted copper, gold and silver deposits in the region include the Motheo and Khoemacau projects in Botswana, two of the largest copper discoveries globally in the past few years.

The most recent drill program from the Fiesta prospect delivered a number of promising intersections for Noronex, headlined by a 30m strike at 0.56% Cu and 62g/t Ag from 158m.

Funded by major South32 (ASX:S32), 14 of drill holes totalling 3500m of a 5000m initial program were completed by early December last year.

Chub Witham chaired Pinnacle, meanwhile, is still on the hunt for a company maker project having secured a swathe of prospects across Canada, WA and South Australia in lithium, heavy mineral sands and rare earths.

The junior had $1m in the bank at September 30 last year, keeping its powder dry for new acquisitions while undertaking work on three existing projects, having surrendered leases over some kaolin projects in WA.

Originally published as Resources Top 5: VRX gets green tick from WA’s EPA for silica sand mine