Empire Metals Ltd on Tuesday said it has confirmed the presence of ilmenite, a key titanium mineral, at its Pitfield mine in Western Australia.

Empire Metals shares rose 12% to 2.52 pence each on Tuesday morning in London.

The London-based minerals explorer and developer said results from petrographic and mineralogical studies showed the dominance of ilmenite and hematite, as well as a minor presence of magnetite in the samples studied.

The firm said the makeup of the samples is ‘considered highly beneficial from an economic perspective’.

Empire Metals noted that ilmenite is a titanium-iron oxide mineral which is a ‘highly valued’ source of titanium oxide, accounting for 85% of titanium feedstock in the industry. Titanium is on the strategic ‘critical minerals list’ in countries including the US, EU, Japan and Australia.

Empire Metals said it will undertake both diamond and reverse circulation drill programmes along the entire length of the anomaly in order to confirm its size. The firm’s 3D magnetics model indicates that the anomaly measures 40km by 8km and is at least 6km deep.

Managing Director Shaun Bunn said: ‘Our knowledge and understanding of this mineral system continues to grow at pace. Since announcing the titanium discovery on May 30 2023 we have been able to demonstrate the scale of this mineral system and confirm that the host sedimentary rocks have been extensively replaced by titanium and iron minerals. This distinguishes Pitfield from the typical titanium deposits which are either much lower-grade heavy mineral beach sand deposits or hard-rock igneous deposits which are difficult to beneficiate.

‘We believe Pitfield is truly unique in its scale and character, and I am confident that with further exploration success and studies we can demonstrate that this is a world-leading discovery of titanium rich mineralisation which will have globally significant economic value.’

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