Australia’s highest grade undeveloped antimony resource, which currently contains over $2.3 billion worth of the critical mineral, is being aggressively explored by an expert team who have managed to increase its resource by 92% in less than three months – and are racing towards launching an exploration plan that could take it more than three times this size in 2025.
As the antimony price rose more than 400% to over US$50,000/t in a little more than a year, $30 million market cap Trigg Minerals (ASX: TMG) was ready to execute on a company-making acquisition that now has them perfectly positioned to become a near-term producer. They’ve got $6.4 million in cash and are backed by one of the world’s biggest asset managers who have deep expertise in resources.
Situated in NSW’s famed New England Orogen, where TMG has been strategically acquiring a host of historical antimony and gold mines, their flagship Achilles project hosts the Wild Cattle Creek deposit – which currently contains a JORC resource of 1.52Mt @ 1.97% Sb for 29,902t of antimony.
Standout historical assays include 10.7m at 14.24% Sb, 18.7m at 4.5% Sb including 5.2m at 9.8% Sb, and 51.2m at 1.7% Sb including 5.5m at 4.8% Sb. Around two thirds of the resource is in the indicated category with 0.96Mt @ 2.02% Sb, while the remaining 0.56Mt @ 1.88% Sb is inferred.
The deposit was initially based on 130 drill holes totalling 10,710 metres, which revealed a resource that is exposed at surface for 300m and descends at a 25-degree angle for at least 350m – but is thought to extend much further west at even higher grades, and could encompass 900m of strike length so far. However, the deposit is hosted within a largely untested structure that is 6km long, with potential repetitions along strike and elsewhere on the Achilles lease area.
The structure of the previous resource is visualised through a schematic long section below, and is useful to understand where the down plunge extension could be waiting:
Source: TMG
Upon thorough examination of all historical data, TMG determined that there was significant room for optimisation in the resource estimate, and worked with external consultants to effectively double the resource using existing assays – while maintaining the same 1% Sb cut-off grade.
This was no easy process – Trigg diligently reconstructed and validated assay and collar data in the drilling database, a rigorous process that enhanced its quality and accuracy, while substantially improving the model’s resolution.
The resource is now composed of 120 drill holes totalling 9,538.6 metres, but focuses on capturing the width of the mineralisation – rather than just the high-grade core. Critically, Trigg now has a concrete plan to leverage geophysics to further refine their upcoming drilling campaign that is targeting a 100Kt resource.
Source: TMG
At an average mineralised width of 20 meters, Wild Cattle Creek is Australia’s widest known antimony deposit – significantly exceeding typical narrow vein-hosted Sb deposits in the region, such as LRV’s Hillgrove deposit.
Given the deposit has been mostly drilled to a vertical depth of 100 metres and remains open downplunge and along strike, Trigg aims to expand the WCC resource by targeting these extensions and testing potential replicate shoots. Resource modelling highlights multiple high-grade shoots above 1.6% Sb that remain open either down-dip or along strike.
Since its discovery in the 1890’s, Achilles has had a long history of rapidly moving into production during times when either Australia had an urgent need for antimony or the commodity price was high. Wild Cattle Creek’s discovery in 1927 made it the main focus of the project, and historical metallurgy has shown ultra-high antimony recoveries of over 95% are achievable from the deposit through a low-cost conventional milling and flotation technique.
Building a Future Producer’s Dream Network
Trigg has been bolstering their position as a globally significant antimony company in a variety of different capacities. In December, the company recruited former Mandalay Resources (TSX: MND) Vice President Andre Booyzen, who during his 7-year tenure at Australia’s only operating antimony mine and where it is merely a byproduct of gold, had full strategic and operational control of the Costerfield Gold-Antimony Mine, including product sales, offtakes, and negotiations.
Their recent resource upgrade and newfound understanding of the deposit was enough for 1832 Asset Management to invest $1.6 million into TMG. 1832 is one of Canada’s largest asset managers, and is owned by the Bank of Nova Scotia – a C$86 billion financial services giant. 1832 is also well known to Australian investors through their investment in $2 billion gold explorer Spartan Resources (ASX: SPR), which has seen a 1,200% share price increase in just two years.
Another major industry breakthrough for Trigg was being the first ASX-listed company to be accepted into the International Antimony Association. This newly strengthened industry engagement, regulatory access, and global collaboration are all key factors that will significantly contribute towards Trigg’s ambitions of being a globally significant critical minerals producer.
Back in November and with an antimony price assumption of just US$27,000/t, the team at East Coast Research forecast that Wild Cattle Creek could produce at an AISC of US$15,647/t – and in a base case scenario would be worth $0.163/share – 527% higher than their current $0.026 share price.
While this valuation was blended with the value of residual resources that would be left over mining – it was done before Trigg doubled their resource, and of course before launching their maiden drilling campaign that is aiming to triple the resource from here while bringing both gold and tungsten into the mix.
High-Grade Tungsten Heavily Enriches Prospects
The best parts of Wild Cattle Creek could be barely in the beginnings of their discovery and understanding, with the Trigg team defining an alteration halo and additional parallel structure that contains high-grade tungsten and antimony.
TMG recently isolated a high-grade antimony and tungsten vein lying subparallel and just 35m beneath the primary Wild Cattle Creek system, at grades up to an astonishing 27.6% Sb and 2.14% W – there is potential to drastically improve project economics. A cross-section of the underlying mineralisation can be seen below:
Source: TMG
This vein extends over 100 metres in the westernmost sections of the deposit, and remains open at depth and along strike, excitingly highlighting the strong potential for additional resources in antimony and tungsten. Importantly, there appears to be a significant westward increase in antimony and tungsten grades, further underscoring robust resource upgrade potential.
Notably, this revelation of an underlying system and robust enrichment within the stockwork alteration of Wild Cattle Creek is highly consistent with the likes of Hillgrove and Costerfield.
Tungsten was not a metal of focus during any of Achilles’ periods of exploration, leading tungsten assays to be either absent, under-sampled, or underestimated. TMG is currently gearing up to launch a drilling campaign that will test these extensions, any continuity of which would be extremely encouraging for the project.
The tungsten market is showing signs of descending into madness in a similar fashion to antimony, having been caught up in more sweeping export restrictions from China announced in February, which have shocked clients of tungsten miners. China controls over 80% of the tungsten market, while the US produces none at all.
Overall, Trigg Minerals has spent the past few months acting with extreme precision in their acquisitions of strategic projects and follow-on planning of exploration programs. Their portfolio also consists of numerous other gold, antimony and tungsten projects – most of which are historic mines, and all of which will be delved into in future coverage of TMG on their journey towards becoming a true Australian critical minerals company.
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Disclaimer: This article is for informational and marketing purposes only and does not constitute financial advice or a recommendation to invest. All opinions expressed are our own. We may receive fees or other forms of compensation in connection with the publication of this content. Please do your own research and seek professional advice before making any investment decisions.