London — The Australian based mining company MRG Metals on Friday announced that samples taken from its concession at Nhacutse, which lies in its Corridor South project in the southern Mozambican province of Gaza, confirm that Nhacutse contains very high grade heavy mineral sands.
Seventeen samples were taken that show an estimated 140 million cubic metres of ground with over five per cent total heavy mineral content. According to the company’s chair, Andrew Van Der Zwan, this means that “MRG is confident that Nhacutse could deliver a significantly larger very high grade resource than we were originally targeting”.
He added, “given the depth of the resource that the drilling is detailing, we could be looking at a 200 million tonnes high grade resource at Nhacutse”.
MRG Metals will now launch a tender to find an independent company to calculate a formal Mineral Resource Estimate. The company also announced that a mineralogical study of the samples will be reported shortly.
Following Friday’s announcement, shares in the company on the Australian Securities Exchange jumped by 12.5 per cent.
In Mozambique, heavy mineral sands are mined for their titanium and zircon content. Ilmenite and rutile are used to make white pigments for paints, paper, and plastic. Titanium can be extracted from these ores and used to manufacture metallic parts where lightweight and high strength are needed. Zircon is used for abrasive and insulating purposes.