Latin Resources has taken a full page in the AFR today to...

Latin Resources has taken a full page in the AFR today to broadcast the following:

Mineral holds carbon capture potential


Whiter than white” is a virtue often proclaimed in washing powder advertisements, but it also applies to a valuable mineral commodity that rarely occurs as a commercial-scale deposit.The material in question is called halloysite, which is made up of mainly aluminium and silicon with a smattering of hydrogen.

Halloysite is a derivative of the more common kaolin, which when purified has high-level applications such as in lithium-ion batteries, super capacitors and water purification.

When it comes to these new applications, the purer the better.

Grandview Research estimates the global halloysite market will be worth $US50 million by 2025, growing at a compound annual rate of 7.2 per cent.

A tonne of the material currently sells for up to $US6000 ($7800) a tonne, compared with about $US400 a tonne for commercial grade kaolin.

In the short term, usage will be driven by demand for ceramics in Asia Pacific construction, and critical and semi-critical medical and cosmetics applications.

But of the 3000 patents taken out in relation to potential halloysite applications, arguably the most exciting are the role of the mineral in carbon capture and hydrogen storage.

“Several companies are working on carbon capture globally,” says Latin Resources’ Chris Gale.“The quality of the properties of halloysite is critical in terms of demanding higher prices for the material, in some cases up to $US40,000 to $US50,000 a tonne in the carbon capture and hydrogen storage sectors.”

Gale’s interest in the topic is more than academic: the ASX-listed, Perth-based Latin fully owns the Noombenberry halloysite/kaolin project near Merredin, in Western Australia’s southern wheat belt.Latin recently completed a 197-hole air-core (AC) drilling campaign that discovered significant deposits of bright, white kaolin and high grade halloysite up to 50 metres thick across the project area. The drilling program was designed to outline the extent of a known sub-outcrop of kaolinitic clays and halloysite across the 18-square-kilometre tenement.

The initial assay results displayed high ultrabright quality kaolin and more important, the high grade halloysite within the kaolinite.

The best results include seven metres at 27.3 per cent halloysite and 66 per cent kaolinite, eight metres of 20.1 per cent halloysite and 68.2 per cent kaolinite; and 13 metres at 28.9 per cent halloysite and 46.4 per cent kaolinite.

Subsequent results from four float samples confirmed the presence of bright white and ultra bright white kaolin, up to 15 kilometres along strike to the north-east of the main drilling area.

Collected from dam walls at two separate locations, the samples returned grades of up to 25 per cent halloysite.

While there’s much more work to be done, the results to date suggest a deposit that’s big enough to support a simple open-cut operation.

The ore would be beneficiated on site as much as possible, before being trucked 300 kilometres to the port of Fremantle and shipped to Chinese processors.

The supply dynamics are favourable, given the dearth of mineable deposits in the first place and growing concerns about unsustainable mining practices.

Reflecting this scarcity of supply, US producer Applied Minerals has the only known measured resource of halloysite clay in the western hemisphere with its Dragon mine in Utah’s Tintic district.

Locally the ASX-listed, $600 million market cap Andromeda Metals is considered to be the most advanced halloysite play and is perhaps 12 months ahead of Latin in development.

In prefeasibility stage, Andromeda’s Great White project on the Great Australian Bight has a stated resource of 37 million tonnes, consisting of 21 million tonnes of kaolin and 8 million-9 million tonnes of halloysite.

“We have only completed assays on 200 out of 700 samples so we have to be careful in what we say, but at this stage we are displaying worldclass Halloysite grades,” Gale says.

Gale adds that a mine would also benefit WA wheat belt farmers by diversifying the local economy from its erratic rainfall-dependent fortunes.

“I grew up in the Mallee, so I know how tough a drought can be,” he says.

Latin is also no stranger to battery metals and stored energy. As its name suggests, the company initially was focused on South America, where it has entered a joint venture to fund the next phase of exploration on its hard rock lithium spodumene projects in Catamarca, Argentina.

Integra is a $US1 billion private equity fund with existing lithium brine interests in the region.

“Securing such a joint venture partner to fund our lithium projects is great, as it allows us to fund – and focus on – our halloysite project,” Gale says.

Closer to home, Latin holds the Yarara and Burdett gold projects in NSW’s Lachlan Fold belt.

But with the gold price off the boil for the time being, it looks like Latin’s mid-term prospects will be driven by halloysite as it transforms from an obscure mineral into a vital input for the lowcarbon transportation era.

“We think we have a good quality product and the deposit looks to be quite large, but it’s still early days,” Gale says.

The company is liaising with several universities on carbon capture and hydrogen storage applications.

“This is an extremely exciting time for the company,” he says. “We believe the Noombenberry project has the potential to unlock significant value for Latin shareholders.”

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Ash here.

I understand the Latin Colin deposits have more unattractive FeO2 and aren't as white as the ADN/MEP JV. If Gale can get $US6000 a ton for his halloysite output, what price will Great White command?

Ash