Oakdale Resources begins drilling Gibraltar project in Australia’s premier halloysite-kaolin region

Oakdale Resources Ltd (ASX:OAR) (FRA:F1S) has started aircore drilling at the Gibraltar Halloysite-Kaolin Project within Australia’s premier halloysite-kaolin region on the Eyre Peninsula of South Australia. Gibraltar is to the north and adjacent to Andromeda Metals Ltd’s (ASX:ADN) Mt Hope Kaolin-Halloysite Project and Oakdale is confident of success with its aggressive exploration program. The 2,500 metres of shallow aircore drilling in around 50 holes is designed to confirm the extent of historic shallow drilling results containing kaolinitic clays and halloysite occurrence. Depending on initial in-field observations from the drilling, Oakdale has capacity to complete additional holes and then plans to estimate an inferred JORC-compliant resource. “Compelling target” Oakdale Resources executive chairman Chris Gale said: “We are very excited to have our fully funded maiden drilling campaign underway and progressing well. "The Gibraltar project represents a compelling target for Oakdale, with historic work indicating the presence of the high-value halloysite and kaolin minerals." Value upside Despite the high prospectivity, the company’s share price and market cap are yet to catch-up with peers holding comparable project portfolios. Shares have increased from 0.3 cents on August 14 to 3.3 cents on September 7, a new high of almost three years, and last traded at 1.9 cents while the market cap is approximately $30.8 million. In comparison, Andromeda has seen an increase in market cap from $13 million when it first began exploring the region’s kaolin potential in 2018, to more than $328 million as strong results continue. Publication of a positive pre-feasibility study on the Great White project outlining the economic model for a proposed mine has also been a boost for Andromeda. That company’s shares have risen from 4.4 cents on August 28 to a new 13-year high of 20.5 cents last week. Large global market The global market for kaolin is large and broad with applications from ceramics, cement, paints, polymers and porcelain as well as the low end of paper manufacture. Gale said: "There is a stable and strong global demand across a range of applications for both high-grade kaolin and the more unique form of halloysite.” Aircore campaign Aircore drilling at Gibraltar will be completed on a nominal 100 x 100-metre grid spacing over the historic occurrence, widening out to 200 x 200-metres to the south. To enable rapid identification of clay minerals including kaolinite and halloysite in individual drill samples Oakdale will use portable in-field spectral analysis. This will assist in the collection of composite samples for laboratory analysis. The composite samples will be sent to Adelaide where they will undergo detailed test-work including brightness testing, definitive clay mineral species quantification via a combination of X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and spectral scanning, and other elemental analysis via X-Ray Florence (XRF). Gale added: "Beneficially, due to the surface bedded nature of this project’s mineralisation, the 2500-metre drilling program will be completed very quickly with assay results to follow shortly thereafter.”