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Murray Ward
Critical Resources has revealed a high-grade tungsten system in New Zealand, with first-pass sampling delivering a stunning channel sample result of 0.41m grading 16.63 per cent tungsten trioxide.
The work was conducted at its Granite Creek tungsten target, part of the company’s Croesus project near Barrytown on the South Island’s mineral-rich West Coast.
The impressive channel sample, considered true width, was not an isolated hit. The company says nine of the 25 samples taken from the Granite Creek area returned high-grade tungsten results ranging from 0.67 per cent to the headline 16.63 per cent. Six of those samples graded above one per cent tungsten trioxide and three went above two per cent.
The bedrock occurrences are spread over a 600-metre strike, with outcropping quartz veins returning grades including 2.21 per cent, 1.61 per cent and 0.90 per cent tungsten trioxide.
‘High-grade scheelite float on both flanks of the Barrytown Granite ridge points to a system extending well beyond the immediate target.’
Critical Resources managing director Tim Wither
Adding to the story, a sample from the footwall adjacent to the main vein returned 3820 parts per million tungsten, suggesting the mineralisation extends into the surrounding wall rock.
Critical says the latest results validate historical exploration, pointing to a significant tungsten system in the area. Previous selective sampling in 1988 returned grades of up to a spectacular 42.6 per cent tungsten trioxide.
The potential size of the system is further supported by the discovery of scheelite-bearing float in drainages on both flanks of the Barrytown ridge, suggesting the system extends well beyond the immediate target. Historical float samples from the nearby Little Granite Creek prospect also yielded up to 26.6 per cent tungsten trioxide.
Critical Resources managing director Tim Wither said: “These are strong, repeatable tungsten grades. The 0.41-metre channel assayed 16.63% WO3 across the full width of an in-situ quartz-scheelite vein. And it is not a one-off: nine of our 25 samples returned high-grade tungsten, including six above 1% WO3, and three above 2% WO3, over more than 600 metres of the target.”
In the past two years, the benchmark price for ammonium paratungstate has surged almost tenfold from its historical average of US$330 (A$471) per metric tonne unit to over US$3,100 (A$4426), driven by severe shortages of secure Western supply.
Tungsten has virtually no substitutes and is indispensable for high-tech manufacturing, aerospace, and defence sectors. Compounding the crisis, China controls 80 per cent of global production and continues to tighten its export policies, severely restricting international access to the material.
Backing up the project’s exploration appeal is a growing regulatory tailwind in New Zealand. The government has made no secret of its ambition to reinvigorate the mining sector through its Minerals Strategy to 2040, and the recent introduction of a Fast-Track Approvals Bill designed to streamline permitting.
While the high-grade tungsten discovery is a significant development, the company is also advancing a diversified portfolio of critical and precious metals projects across several tier-one jurisdictions.
The company holds the advanced Mavis Lake lithium project in Ontario, Canada and the high-grade Halls Peak base metals project in New South Wales.
Meanwhile, closer to its new tungsten play, Critical is progressing a suite of gold projects in New Zealand. At its Cap Burn and Rock and Pillar projects, first-pass RC drilling has already confirmed structurally controlled gold mineralisation, with a follow-up drill program now in planning.
Elsewhere, desktop reviews and targeting are advancing at its Silver Peaks and Tokomairiro gold projects in the country’s south. The company’s solid-state battery technology project in the USA has also recently achieved significant milestones.
With a swag of fresh positive results in hand from Granite Creek, backing up the historical data, Critical is now planning follow-up mapping and an exploration permit application ahead of maiden drill testing.
With the tungsten market in a structural deficit and prices at multi-year highs, Critical appears to be hunting the right metal in the right place. If drilling can confirm these bonanza surface grades extend at depth, things could quickly get interesting for this fast-moving explorer.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: mattbirney@bullsnbears.com.au
