Silica sands explorer Allup Silica is poised for a mid-March 2022 listing on the ASX where the company is aiming to raise $5 million to supercharge its resource definition drilling efforts across its four WA based high-purity silica sands projects. Allup has been quietly accumulating its projects over the last two years, all of which are located within a reasonable trucking distance of four separate shipping ports and road infrastructure.
Whilst the market is often focussed on headline minerals such as gold, iron ore, nickel and now lithium, the uses for silica sands has expanded in recent years and even some of its traditional markets like bottles – think beer bottles – are still as good as ever and growing.
More recently however the market has worked out that if you add silica to lithium batteries, you can greatly enhance the chargeability of the battery – in fact you can effectively turbo charge it.
Whilst the science of adding silica to lithium batteries is not yet settled, at least one ASX listed company, Altech Chemicals says it has worked out how to do it. Altech has developed its own proprietary technology that coats the silica in high purity alumina and according to the company, that coating overcomes the traditional technical hurdles to using silica in lithium batteries – something that everyone wants to do given the boost it provides to a battery’s power.
Silica is also used to “frac” an oil and gas operation, a relatively modern technique that has unlocked billions of dollars worth of previously uneconomic hydrocarbons – and with oil and gas prices burgeoning once again, silica is set to ride shotgun with the hydrocarbon industry.
Enter Allup Silica.
Of its four WA based silica projects, Allup has already defined a resource at its Unicup project located approximately 200 kilometres from the port of Albany in WA’s South West region. That project houses an inferred JORC mineral resource estimate of 73 million tonnes at an average grade of 96.6 per cent silica.
Allup plans to use money raised from its listing to drill out its other three projects in order to wrap resource estimates around them in addition to enhancing the existing resource at Unicup.
Given that silica sands are a bulk commodity, access to port is a critical item for any wanna-be silica sands miner and Allup appears to have that base covered. Its Argyle project in the Shire of Wyndham East Kimberly is just 100km to the Wyndham port and its Esperance project tenements are anywhere from 20km to 100km away from the Esperance Port. The company’s fourth project, the Antwalker project is also well located within cooee of the Albany Port.
It’s not just the size of the resource that matters when it comes to silica sands – quality is king and Allup boasts some sublime qualities in respect to both grade and the type of sands it has across its entire project portfolio. Drilling to date has identified raw grades up to 99.5 per cent silica with processed grades reaching as high as a staggering 99.9 per cent silica purity.
The projects have been cherry-picked based on easy removal of nusance impurities such as iron amongst others, potentially leading to a lower-cost operation and low mine remediation, or ‘cleanup’ cost at the end of the mine life.
Many other silica sands projects have silica grains either coated in iron or with an internal iron element that requires high-cost crushing and processing to increase the purity of the end product. Allup’s projects contain extremely low amounts of iron impurities thereby streamlining the purification process significantly.
Many customers across multiple different industries globally demand a low iron content and Allup has taken heed, setting out to ensure its silica sands resources have less than 100 parts per million iron.
The company chose silica sands as its primary target commodity due to the growing global demand for silica products paired with dwindling supplies from traditional sources. The majority of recently discovered high-grade silica sands deposits worldwide are located in areas with poor access or are very remote, leaving a gaping hole in the market for silica sands projects in easily accessible locations.
High-grade silica sands are primarily used in the automotive, electronics and photovoltaic or solar panel industry, however it is also a key component of high-end glass manufacturing.
Growing the existing 73 million tonne silica resource base at Unicup will be the initial priority for Allup post listing with Unicup set to be the first cab off the rank to meet the sharp end of the drill bit.
Allup plans to spend approximately 2 years building its resource base and conducting pre-feasibility study works with the aim of developing its assets into mining operations shortly thereafter.
Silica sands is a hot commodity, poised to play a vital role in powering the solar photovoltaic clean energy revolution, with very strong demand only set to increase from the Asia-Pacific region.
Allup’s journey will be interesting to watch as it seeks to create resources to feed hungry traditional markets but keeps one eye on newer markets like lithium batteries that have the potential to prove immense wealth for all involved.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@businessnews.com.au
By Matt Birney
