Further drilling and analysis at our Storeknuten deposit (in Rogaland, Norway) has revealed a big increase in our mineral resource estimate to almost 1 billion tonnes. Here we evaluate three important aspects of this latest news.
1. Almost four fold increase
In May 2021, we reported a mineral resource estimate for Storeknuten of 240 million tonnes – this confirmed that Storeknuten holds a world-class deposit of the three EU Critical Raw Materials: phosphate, vanadium and titanium. Drilling since then has increased this resource almost four fold – to an estimated 910 million tonnes. As background, Storeknuten is part of our Bjerkreim Exploration Project, located in southwest Norway in the large Bjerkreim-Sokndal Layered Intrusion.
“This nearly four-fold increase in the resource at Storeknuten marks another important milestone in the progress of the Bjerkreim Exploration Project,” explains Norge Mining’s CEO, John Vergopolous. “Whilst our focus will be on the 410 million tonnes of high grade mineralisation, the vastness of the total resource underlines Norway’s strategic position.”
2. Higher grades – especially of phosphate
The grades of our EU Critical Raw Materials have also increased since our maiden estimate – particularly when it comes to phosphate. The updated estimate gives a mean grade of 3.36% phosphorus pentoxide in a total resource of 410 million tonnes. Our focus is now and in the future will be on the grades of our Critical Raw Materials, not on finding more resource.
We’ve found enough resource now. We don’t need to do any more of that,” says John Vergopolous. “We’ve achieved a big objective of ours with this latest news: increasing our grades, especially of phosphate. We now have a total resource of 410 million tonnes, and that’s a substantial increase in the grade compared to the maiden estimate. This year, we will continue our focus on higher quality.”
3. Global significance reinforced
The size, tonnage and grades of our mineral resource is clearly of huge importance globally – as the world continues on its clean energy transition. As countries and trading blocs around the world take a strategic review of their commodity requirements, we have firmly established ourselves as an important actor.
To recap: phosphate is a key ingredient in fertilisers; it’s also increasingly being used in LFP (lithium iron phosphate) batteries for electric vehicles. Vanadium (V-flow) batteries have the potential to store vast amounts of renewable energy. Not to mention, strengthening steel. While titanium – very strong, and very light – is used in a whole host of engineering applications, including aerospace.
Norway’s firmly placing itself centre stage in the development of the European mining industry to meet demand from the clean energy transition, reduce dependence on global supply chains and achieve environmental and social sustainability objectives,” adds Norge Mining’s CEO.
As the world rushes to meet those objectives, we are working hard to meet our own. The new data is being incorporated into the Bjerkreim Exploration Project’s scoping study. We hope to announce this by the end of the summer. Further exploration work is also planned – as well as a further bolstering of our team of experts, as momentum surrounding this exciting project ramps up.
