Tertiary Minerals (TYM) is the UK’s only public traded fluorspar company – a mineral the firm describes as “strategic”.
The AIM group has three fluorspar assets – the Storuman property in Sweden and the Lassedalen project in Norway.
It also controls the large MB deposit in Nevada, USA, which has been its main focus has been in recent months.
Fluorspar is the mineral form of calcium fluoride – CaF2 – and it has many applications.
When mined, it is separated into two main grades – Acidspar is at least 97% calcium fluoride, while metspar (metallurgical spar) is a much lower purity – at between 60% and 85%.
The latter is used for iron smelting, and to manufacture glass, steel, enamels and aluminium products, while acidspar is generally converted to hydrofluoric acid, by combining it with sulfuric acid.
This can then be made it into other things like fluorocarbons, which are used in Teflon (the stuff your frying pan is coated with), fridges, freezers and air conditioning units.
It is perhaps worth noting that new environmentally friendly refrigerants, required by regulation, contain more fluorine than the older ozone depleting ones.
Global demand for fluorspar is between 6 and 6.5mln tonnes a year, according to Tertiary, with Acidspar, the most in demand of the two – at around 3.8 million tonnes a year.
China produces more than half of all fluorspar production but exports have continued to decline, as the People’s Republic has developed and needed to use its own source.
It’s classed as a ‘critical’ raw material by the European Commission, and outside China, Western Europe, Canada and the USA (which imports 100% of what it needs) are the largest acid-spar consumers, importing more than 900,000 tonnes a year.
So junior Tertiary is poised to capitalise on this opportunity. At the MB project, which covers 2,800 acres, and 146 claims, near the US Highway 50, the group’s latest drilling programme has increased the already large deposit’s size.
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by Josh White, Sharecast.
Tertiary Minerals reveals promising fluorspar drilling results
Tertiary Minerals had some promising results on its hands on Tuesday, announcing the completion and receipt of analytical results from the phase four drilling programme at its MB fluorspar project in Nevada, USA.
The AIM-traded fluorspar company said that, during the drilling phase, four holes were completed with a total of 1,533 metres drilled.
Tertiary said it encountered thick intersections of fluorspar in step-out drilling, which remained open at depth and along the strike.
In hole 15TMBR036, located west of the Western Area, there was a total of eight significant fluorspar intersections from 120.4m depth, and six higher-grade intersections from 150.88m.
Hole 15TMBRC038, located to the north of the Western Area, had a 22.46m grading of 11.47% fluorspar from 74.68m depth.
Another hole north of the Western Area, 15TMBRC039, had 16 significant fluorspar intersections from 53.34m depth, and five higher-grade intersections from 185.93m.
Tertiary said it also encountered ore-grade molybdenum in the base of hole 15TMBRC036, providing a possible future exploration target.
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