Osmond ramps up Spanish heavy minerals hunt

Heavy minerals hunter Osmond Resources has intersected further quartzite layers that look prospective for a suite of lucrative heavy minerals like rutile, ilmenite, zircon and monazite at its flagship Orión EU critical minerals project in southern Spain.

The ongoing drill program has punched out a total of five holes for 1302 metres with another two drillholes still in progress. All five holes hit quartzite layers within the mineral-rich Ordovician Pochico Formation.

Outcropping rocks found in zone three, part of Osmond Resources’ Orión EU critical minerals project in southern Spain.

Initial samples from the first diamond-core hole were fast-tracked for analysis and encouragingly, the results exceeded detection limits at first using standard assaying procedures.

The samples have been subjected to further assaying, with the results now pending and expected to be reported shortly.

The very first hole in the program, part of a 15-hole campaign, cut through the Pochico formation and finished at 187.8m depth in massive quartzites.

The drill-bit tore through seven separate weakly-laminated quartzite layers, a typical host for rutile, ilmenite, zircon, monazite and other rare earth-bearing minerals.

Drilling at the Orión EU site follows up on earlier sampling of outcropping quartzite that delivered a series of stellar heavy mineral grades, with the company hoping the numbers downhole might even surpass those found at surface.

Bulk rock channel samples of 50 kilograms each were taken in 2024 from three outcropping areas across the Avellanar Zone within the project’s ground. The samples returned titanium dioxide grades of 15.16 per cent, 14.04 per cent and 15.84 per cent respectively, while the highest grades for rutile across the three sampled areas were 13.49, 13.36 and 15.35 per cent.

Zircon assays delivered results of 9.79, 8.77 and 9.64 per cent. Rare-earth rich monazite produced 1.62, 1.56 and 1.77 per cent. Rare earth oxides also came to the party, with results of 1.18, 1.07 and 1.17 per cent.

Notably, the channel sampling kicked-up a total heavy minerals package comprising eight heavy minerals for an eye-opening return of 32.8, 29.4 and 32.9 per cent of the dense minerals, widely used in products like paints, electronics, plastics and solar panels. The rare earth oxides could potentially find their way into high-temperature magnets for wind turbines and electric-vehicle motors.

Osmond is eyeing the possibility of having a trio of minerals to eventually bring to market. In addition to rare earths, the in-demand mineral titanium, in the form of rutile and ilmenite, could attract plenty of attention if a sizeable resource is proven, as could a potential zircon supply, widely used in ceramics and many other industrial uses.

Recently, the company extended the mineralised reach at the project, with step-out drilling about 9.5 kilometres to the northwest again hitting rutile, zircon and rare earths-rich monazite in the same quartzite-rich layers. It confirms Osmond’s view that the Pochico Formation hosts multiple, laterally continuous layers enriched in valuable heavy minerals and has the potential to host a major critical minerals deposit.

Drilling has now confirmed that critical metal mineralisation runs continuously across several kilometres, linking together multiple rich zones of critical metals considered to be key minerals for industry and classified as “critical” under the European Union’s 2024 Critical Raw Materials Act.

Osmond is aiming to define the thickness and grade of the mineralised layers at the project and propel the company towards a maiden resource and scoping study in the first half of next year however one thing seems certain…..it isn’t going to be small.

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