Charley Creek - Untapped Scandium Potential

Charley Creek has the potential to be a large and easily exploitable Scandium resource.

While most of the focus has been on rare earth elements contained with the top layer alluvials, the Saprolite layer has been demonstrated to contain a considerable Scandium resource.

Recently, there has been considerable activity on the Scandium scene.

1. Rio Tinto acquired Platina Resources laterite* Scandium project in NSW for $21m.


Source: Rio Tinto to acquire Platina Resources’ Australian scandium project (mining-technology.com)

2. Rimfire Pacific Mining made a Scandium discovery at their Murga Prospect and hit $92m market cap



The Rio Tinto acquired Platina project's Scandium resource is hosted within Laterites. Laterite ore is highly complex to process due to their hard and compact properties and require substantial crushing and grinding. In addition, the chemistry required to successfully process laterite ore into a saleable product at scale is incredibly complex.

The Rimfire Pacific discovery seems to be a mix of Saprolite and Pyroxenite rocks.

Enter Enova Mining and Charley Creek where the Scandium resource is contained within the Saprolite clay zone, enabling the Scandium to be easily leached with no crushing, grinding or complex processing.


Between 5 to 60m is the Saprolite zone at Charley Creek which contains the Scandium resource. According to the company, the mineralisation within this Saprolite zone is primarily Scandium.



It is important to note that while the REO basket price used above is $80/kg for the alluvial sands (not current pricing, would be less), the Scandium price is far superior at USD $2,000-$4,000/kg.



The ease of extraction from Saprolite clays rather than Laterites would make very attractive project economics. The company should concentrate on drilling and defining a Scandium resource within the 5 to 60m layer of Saprolite. This would enable the company to monetise the project through sale or add substantial value to the market cap as we've witnessed with Rimfire Pacific (ASX: RIM).



It is important to note that Scandium is currently classed as a critical mineral by the United States, Canada, Australia and the European Union and 80% of the current Scandium supply to the market is from "unfriendly countries" as deemed in the West.



From the Enova Mining website, I quote the following tidbit of information:



To summarise, the company is stating that the grades of rare earth elements and Scandium are substantially higher in the 5-60m Saprolite zone than the grades in the Alluvial sands. The current resource for Charley Creek only focuses on the Alluvial sands and does not incorporate the Saprolite zone.



So if the grades are appreciably higher than 289ppm, for rare earth elements and Scandium, that is a tangible development. Particularly since the Scandium is entirely hosted in Saprolite and not Laterite or Pyroxenite (ease of processing).

The company should dedicate some focus towards delineation of a Scandium resource and grade within the Saprolite clay zone.