Antimony hits all time high and Resolution is staking its claim

Resolution Minerals has found 791 historical workings relating to gold and antimony prospects at its Drake East project in NSW.

Resolution says the workings are almost too numerous to count. Pic: Getty Images.

• Resolution's Drake East gains strategic importance as antimony hits all time high of US$59,800/t

• RML plans to fast-track exploration to position Drake East as a strategic asset for Western antimony supply

• Nearly 800 old workings related to antimony and gold prospects at Drake East

 

Special Report: As antimony climbs to a new all time high, Resolution Minerals has found close to 800 historical workings relating to antimony and gold prospects across its Drake East project in NSW.

The results of a recent LiDAR survey have been given fresh significance in the wake of the continued surge in antimony prices, with Fastmarkets quoting prices for ingots of the defence metal as high as US$59,800/t last week.

Prices have surged since export controls were introduced by major refiner China, with gold also clocking a fresh all time high of ~US$3150/oz last week.

A final high-quality light detection and ranging interpretation over the Resolution Minerals (ASX:RML) project found 742 pits, 33 shafts, and 16 adits, with the vast majority corresponding to historical prospects.

While not yet up to JORC standard as mineral occurrences, the region’s prospectivity for both gold and critical antimony is fast being proven up by multiple companies.

Drake East project areas at Hedley’s and Hensen Hills are believed to be part of a large antimony-gold mineral field which extends onto Legacy Minerals Holdings (ASX:LGM) Drake project area, with early grades there showing up to 30% antimony and 85g/t gold.

Resolution’s own early sampling has returned peak values of 5.72% Sb, 60.9g/t Au and 214g/t silver from historic workings, and the company has also identified a concentration of placer gold mine workings covering around 135km2 in its Lanikai Alluvial prospect area.

Resolution executive director Aharon Zaetz said the new interpretation has provided the company greater insight into the project’s potential.

“This project clearly has very significant upside with nearly 800 mine workings, that in reality are too numerous to count,” Zaetz said.

“The widespread placer gold workings are in their own right a valid and exciting exploration target. That they strongly indicate a very local source of gold is equally exciting.

“And then there is of course the antimony and antimony-gold vein potential, which is very significant, believed part of the same mineral system that included Legacy’s adjacent Lunatic Antimony Field.”

Following a successful placement at 1.1c last month, RML is well-funded to now accelerate its fieldwork program with geological mapping and rock chip sampling ahead of any potential drilling.

Project map highlighting historic workings. Pic: RML

Antimonic ambitions

Record high gold prices have been a recent commodity headliner, but antimony has caught plenty of attention as well, going from around US$10,000 a tonne at the end of 2023 to now be trading beyond US$50,000/t.

Stockhead contributor Kristie Batten noted that antimony explorers are now eyeing off near term production with prices showing little signs of a slowdown, and that primary operations have newfound allure after mostly being a valued by-product.

The price ascent is due to an almost perfect storm of declining production, dislocated supply, growing demand from the solar and defence sectors, and the depletion of strategic stockpiles.

With exploration success, assets like Drake East could become key to the integrity of Western supply chains, giving them strategic significance as prices continue to rise.

This article was developed in collaboration with Resolution Minerals, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.

Originally published as Antimony hits all time high and Resolution is staking its claim