Mining Intelligence and News
Australia

Speewah Fluorite Project

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Overview

Mine TypeOpen Pit
StagePermitting
Commodities
  • Fluorspar
Mining Method
  • Truck & Shovel / Loader
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SnapshotThe Speewah Fluorite Project hosts one of the largest high-grade fluorite resources globally. Tivan is also evaluating metallurgical grade fluorspar (metspar) (CaF2 content between 85 97%) as a by-product opportunity.

Tivan aims to operate with a low or zero carbon footprint, leveraging hydropower to establish the world’s first fluorite mine powered by renewable energy.

In July 2023, Tivan announced that it had initiated a desktop and site-based works program to facilitate the environmental approvals process. The Environmental Approvals Scoping Study was completed and informed the baseline and technical studies required to support the Environmental Impact Statement for Speewah.

On 9 Dec 2024, Tivan announced the Speewah Fluorite Project had been awarded Major Project Status by the Federal government.

Tivan has defined a multi-year pathway to resource expansion at Speewah, that will provide uplift at Feasibility Study and Definitive Feasibility Study.
Latest NewsTivan Limited: Tivan awarded $7.4 million grant for Speewah Fluorite Project     December 6, 2024

Owners

SourceSource
CompanyInterestOwnership
Tivan Ltd. 100 % Indirect
The Speewah Project (Fluorite and Vanadium) is held in Tivan’s 100% subsidiary, Speewah Mining Pty Ltd (SMPL).

Dec 24, 2024 - Tivan and Sumitomo Corp. have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the Speewah Fluorite Project. The MoU records the key terms for a planned incorporated joint venture (IJV) between the parties for Speewah Fluorite Project. The parties are targeting March 2025 for the binding agreements to be completed.

The agreements will be negotiated around the following key non-binding principles:

• Aggregate equity investment of up to A$60M via a Sumitomo Special Purpose Vehicle (SSPV) for an equity interest of up to 22.5% in the IJV.

• SSPV investments in the IJV will be following completion of the Tivan corporate restructure and the satisfaction of conditions in the formal agreement.

The purpose of the restructure is to separate Fluorite and Vanadium resources, with IJV taking ownership of Fluorite deposit and Vanadium deposit remaining with SMPL.

Contractors

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Deposit type

  • Vein / narrow vein
  • Breccia pipe / Stockwork
  • Sandstone hosted

Summary:

The Speewah fluorite deposit occurs on the western edge of the Halls Creek Mobile Zone and on the southeast side of the Speewah Dome (folded Early Proterozoic units of the Kimberly Block). The King River Fault forms the eastern margin of the Kimberly Block and consists of a series of intersecting faults. Fluorite mineralisation is predominantly hosted by northnortheast and northeast trending faults within the King River Fault, with minor occurrences along north-trending normal faults within the Speewah Dome.

The Early Proterozoic Valentine Siltstone and Lansdowne Arkose of the Speewah Group host most of the mineralisation and outcrop as linear north-northeast trending ridges. These sediments dip 10 to 20 degrees to the southeast.

Fluorite veins have been mapped in three areas known as the Main Zone, West Zone and Central Zone. In the Main Zone, at least nine vein sets have been mapped over a strike length of 8 km. These contain the strike-continuous A-B-C veins, and the less understood D-E-F-G veins, Cross and South vein sets.

The predominantly white-fluorite mineralisation occurs mainly within tabular steeply dipping veins showing very good strike continuity. The veins range in thickness from 1 to 10 m, often flanked by lower grade stockwork and stringer veins, forming an envelope up to 50 m wide.

Fluorite is associated with quartz-feldspar veining but is younger. It occurs in the various settings previously discussed and listed below:
• Large, persistent veins occupying the main north and northeast trending structures
• Fault breccias and brecciated veins occupying the main structures
• Stockworks and breccias hosted preferentially by the sandstone and to a lesser extent by the dolerites adjacent to the main structures
• En echelon vein sets trending northwest between structures
• En echelon vein sets trending northeast (rare)
• Thin, persistent veinlets following jointing mainly in the siltstones (rare)
• Thin, persistent veinlets following bedding planes in the siltstones (rare)

The larger veins range in true thicknesses of up to 15m and are up to 800m long. They have similar persistence occurrence down dip within the faults and have been intersected in several holes as deep as 400m below the surface, but are only approximately 0.5 m wide at that depth. The stockworks tend to occur adjacent to the main faults and are predominantly hosted by the brittle sandstone unit, although reasonable stockwork veining sometimes occurs in the dolerites. Best fluorite intersections occur where the main north trending faults contain fluorite in the form of veins and breccias, and the adjoining wall rocks (usually hanging wall) contain sandstone-hosted stockwork veining. The en echelon vein systems usually have a lower density of veining than the stockwork and hence a lower fluorite grade globally.

The fluorite veins are younger and crosscut the earlier quartz-feldspar veins. They often form co-axially in the center of the quartz-feldspar veins and as vug fill within them and in the matrix of quartz-feldspar vein breccia. Later carbonate veins crosscut all earlier features. Carbonate and quartz also infill voids in the fluorite veins, and occasionally quartz veinlets cut across fluorite veins.

The fluorite is predominantly green to white in colour, with less common purple-coloured fluorite. In outcrop, it weathers to a grey-white colour. It is generally coarsely crystalline, often with euhedral crystals infilling open spaces. The green-coloured fluorite appears to be younger than the purple variety.

Reserves

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Comminution

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Processing

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Production

CommodityProductUnitsAvg. AnnualLOM
Fluorspar Concentrate kt 1271,347

Operational metrics

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* According to 2024 study.

Production Costs

CommodityAverage
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* According to 2024 study / presentation.

Project Costs

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Required Heavy Mobile Equipment

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Personnel

Mine Management

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....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Jan 18, 2025
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