Hawk Resources Finishes First Soil Sweep at Its Olympus Scandium Project

1,240 samples are on their way to an Adelaide lab, and the results will decide whether drilling follows

Scandium is a niche metal, but exploration for it is moving. Hawk Resources (ASX: HWK) has completed the soil sampling programme at its Olympus scandium project in Western Australia’s West Musgrave region, ten days after announcing that fieldwork had begun.

What was done

The company collected 1,240 lag and soil samples on five new grids, at 100 m spacing. The aim was to confirm, infill and extend highly anomalous scandium zones identified in historical sampling. The programme also covered one historical RAB drilling traverse, A-B, whose pXRF results include intercepts of 5 m at 948 ppm Sc and 6 m at 821 ppm Sc from surface.

A planned sixth grid, Grid F, was not sampled because unseasonal rain interrupted the work. Hawk did, however, collect six samples from remnant bags with visible numbers from historical RAB hole MMB0018, located within that grid. The samples are in transit to the ALS laboratory in Adelaide, with results expected in early November.

The project

The historical sampling, done in 2008 while searching for copper, nickel, cobalt and platinum group elements, used a handheld XRF analyser. It outlined a zone of more than 500 ppm scandium covering 4 km by 7 km, plus RAB intercepts of up to 11 m at 934 ppm Sc from surface and single 1 m samples up to 2,164 ppm Sc. Hawk says the project could host a new scandium province.

Managing Director Scott Caithness said that if results prove positive, the next step will include drilling and further soil sampling. The company also noted that Opal has exercised its option with Beau Resources over the project, in line with completion of the Hawk-Opal option.

A caution on the data

The historical figures are pre-JORC 2012 pXRF readings. Hawk itself cautions that pXRF results are not a proxy for laboratory assays, which are needed to determine widths and grades. Until the November results, the findings are indications of potential and not a resource.

Hawk Resources Finishes First Soil Sweep at Its Olympus Scandium Project published on The HeavyQuip Magazine.