OD6 discovers new high-grade fluorspar at US project
Our US critical minerals Investment OD6 Metals (ASX: OD6) just made a new high-grade fluorspar discovery at its project in Nevada, USA.
We already know OD6's project has high grade fluorspar from surface.
And that the project has a history of fluorspar production, with ~26,000 tonnes at 44.9% fluorite mined from the Horseshoe pit back in the 1950s.
There is a old historic resource here too, although OD6 can't announce it publicly because it dates back to 1956, so clearly not JORC compliant.
Today OD6 announced a brand new zone of high-grade fluorspar at North Horseshoe Canyon, with rock chips grading up to 60% fluorspar.
(source)
The new zone sits in the gap between two of OD6's key targets - Horseshoe and Big Jim.
And that gap is what makes today's news interesting to us.
The structure that hosts the mineralisation (the Saw Mill Thrust) only outcrops in two places - Big Jim and the new zone (New Horseshoe Canyon).
Both are mineralised areas at surface, and todays news shows its exposed at either side of the valley at New Horseshoe Canyon (NHC).
This gives further signs that OD6's targets could be joined by the same mineralisation underground, across a 1.5km corridor running from Horseshoe, through the new zone (NHC), to Big Jim and the Spar Mine.
(As always, drilling is needed to confirm whether the mineralisation actually links up, and whether the grades are economic.)
Should it link up, the tonnage at the project could increase rapidly.
We have written about the iceberg theory before, basically what may look like from the surface is a few isolated outcrops, is showering signs that it could be linked underground:
(source)
OD6 is planning drilling to test the new zone AND both of the linking corridors:
(source)
All of this sits in the US, which imports 100% of the fluorspar it consumes, with more than 60% of global supply coming from China.
So we are hoping OD6 can follow ~A$85M capped Ares Strategic Mining, which landed a US Government contract worth up to US$250M for its Nevada fluorspar project on the strength of its permitting status.
(source)
Fluorspar was listed as one of the nine materials with the highest shortfall risk for the US military in a major conflict scenario. (source)
(like we are in now)
And the two explicit mentions of fluorspar from US agencies have both come from:
- The Department of War (through that Ares’ supply contract), (source) AND
- The US Defence Logistics Agency (DLA) when it included fluorspar on its list of critical minerals that are a priority for sourcing in Jan this year.(source)
Fluorspar is one of the more niche critical minerals that hasn’t quite received any mainstream attention YET.
But we think that the 1st of January 2027 deadline (and the threat of lost contracts) will mean capital starts flying around for any projects that have any realistic pathway to producing a critical mineral in the US.
OD6 lodged permits to drill and bulk sample the project earlier this week, which we covered: OD6 lodges drill permits and begins FAST-41 engagement for its Nevada fluorspar project.
What's next for OD6?
🔄 Drill permit application
Today OD6 has officially submitted the paperwork that once approved will allow it to do the first modern drilling (and bulk sampling) at the project since the 50’s.
The “Plan of Operations” submitted is for up to 139 drill pad locations across priority target areas:
(source)
Milestones:
- ✅ Plan of Operations submitted to the US Forest Service
- 🔄 Plan of operations approved
- 🔲 Drill program confirmed and drilling contractor secured
- 🔲 Drill program commenced
🔄 Target generation for US fluorspar project
We want to see OD6 sample in and around the old workings on its project, run some geophysics and generate high priority drill targets ahead of its maiden drilling program.
Milestones:
- ✅ Rock chips
- ✅ Channel sampling
- ✅ Historic drill results
- ✅ Digitisation of scanned paper maps and cross-sections into a 3D geological model
- ✅ Soil/channel sampling
- 🔲 Geophysics
- ✅ Drill targets generated
