OD6 Metals has extended its Rocket-Big Jim-Spar fluorspar corridor at Quinn in Nevada to approximately 700 metres, with six surface samples returning at least 97% CaF₂ and three reaching 99.9%. The results expand the project’s high-grade story, but remain based on selective rock-chip sampling rather than drilling.
- Six samples at 97% CaF₂ or higher
- Three samples returned 99.9% CaF₂
- Mineralisation identified across four structures
- Corridor remains open along strike and at depth
- Drill permitting is underway
Near-Pure Grades Stretch Across 700 Metres
Three surface samples grading 99.9% CaF₂ have turned Big Jim from a high-grade occurrence into part of a much larger exploration story. OD6 Metals (ASX:OD6) says exceptional results from Rocket, Big Jim and Spar now define a mineralised corridor extending approximately 700 metres across its Quinn Fluorspar Project in Nevada.
Big Jim delivered the standout results: four samples from its main vein returned 99.9%, 99.9%, 99.7% and 99.5% CaF₂. The structure is interpreted as a shallow west-dipping vein about two metres wide, beneath a silicified jasperoid breccia. A separate footwall breccia returned 37.4% CaF₂, although its base was not exposed and its full thickness remains unknown.
Rocket produced an 88.8% CaF₂ in-situ sample from brecciated, silicified outcrop, while nearby float material interpreted to have come from the prospect returned up to 99.9% CaF₂. Spar, roughly 450 metres east of Big Jim, added results of 94.3%, 94.1% and 87.1% CaF₂ from steeply dipping veins along felsic dyke contacts.
Different Structures Broaden the Target
The geological interest lies not only in the grades but in the variety of mineralisation styles. OD6 has identified at least four high-grade structures with differing orientations, including shallow-dipping veins at Rocket and Big Jim and steeply dipping dyke-contact veins at Spar. The company says the corridor remains open along strike and at depth, while soil anomalies north of Big Jim point to a possible continuation.
Those narrow veins sit alongside, rather than replace, Quinn’s broader targets. OD6 describes Horseshoe as a 60-metre-wide replacement zone and Mammoth as a 100-metre-wide breccia and stockwork zone. The corridor could therefore provide a high-grade complement to those bulk-tonnage prospects, although that potential has not yet been demonstrated through a resource estimate or economic study.
Surface Results Still Need Drilling
The headline numbers come with an important qualification: these are selective surface rock-chip samples, not drill intersections. The company reports no drilling in this announcement, and says the sampling is insufficient to support a mineral resource estimate. True widths, depth continuity and the scale of the mineralised structures have not been established.
Two Big Jim samples initially produced fluorine results equivalent to more than 100% CaF₂ on a stoichiometric calculation. OD6 top-cut both to 99.9% to reflect the reported assay precision of approximately ±1.2%. The company is completing drill permitting, with future work also requiring approval through the United States Forest Service because the claims are on federal land outside designated Wilderness Study Areas.
OD6 points to a previous 18-kilogram Big Jim sample that returned a 98.3% CaF₂ head grade, low gangue and deleterious elements, and strong ore-sorting performance. It says Rocket and Spar may behave similarly and could potentially support a lower-capital Direct Shipping Metspar pathway before a flotation circuit for premium Acidspar, but those remain proposed development pathways rather than established project outcomes.
Bottom Line?
The grades are unusually strong for surface exploration, but the next value-defining test is whether drilling can convert isolated near-pure samples into continuous, mineable widths at depth.
Questions in the middle?
- Will drilling confirm grade continuity and true widths beneath the Rocket-Big Jim-Spar corridor?
- Can the narrow high-grade structures support a standalone feed source alongside Horseshoe and Mammoth?
- How will future metallurgical and bulk-sample work distinguish a Metspar pathway from premium Acidspar production?