OD6 Metals has reported surface channel samples of up to 24 metres at 51.1% CaF₂ and rock-chip grades reaching 98.4% at Blue Bell in Nevada. The first-pass results elevate Blue Bell to Quinn’s fourth priority target, although drilling is still needed to establish scale, continuity and true widths.
- Channel samples up to 24m at 51.1% CaF₂
- Rock chips grading up to 98.4% CaF₂
- Mineralisation mapped across roughly 70m by 100m
- Blue Bell is now Quinn’s fourth priority target
- No drilling or mineral resource estimate yet
Blue Bell delivers high-grade surface fluorspar
OD6 Metals Limited (ASX:OD6) has uncovered a new high-grade fluorspar zone at Blue Bell, about 12 kilometres south of Horseshoe in Nevada. Maiden channel sampling returned 24 metres at 51.1% CaF₂, including a maximum individual assay of 83.4%, while separate rock-chip samples reached 98.4% CaF₂.
Two other channel lines produced 28 metres at 29.2% CaF₂, including eight metres at 50.7%, and 12 metres at 39.7%, including seven metres at 60.2%. The results came from surface work across an area mapped at roughly 70 metres by 100 metres, where a high-grade vein sits alongside broader footwall breccia and stockwork zones.
Fourth priority prospect strengthens Quinn district thesis
Blue Bell is the first substantive exploration result OD6 has reported outside its original Horseshoe, Big Jim and Mammoth focus areas. The company now describes it as Quinn’s fourth priority exploration target, adding another potential source of material to its proposed hub-and-spoke development concept.
That concept would see multiple satellite fluorspar deposits supply a central processing facility, subject to further exploration, metallurgical work and economic assessment. OD6 has consolidated 226 Nevada mining claims covering about 1,890 hectares and says the wider district contains more than 20 known fluorspar occurrences.
Surface results point to drill targets, not a resource
The geological setting is encouraging but the evidence remains early-stage. The main vein is between 20 centimetres and two metres wide, dips steeply to the north and has been exposed over about 40 metres. Footwall breccia and stockwork mineralisation extends across more than 70 metres, with the system open eastward beneath talus cover and westward through altered volcanics.
OD6 says the steep geometry could allow drill testing from the valley below. However, the reported channel intervals were collected along exposed pit walls and do not represent true widths. Rock chips are selective by nature, and the company has reported no drilling or mineral resource estimate at Blue Bell.
Ore sorting remains central to the development case
The white to pale-green fluorspar contrasts with the darker altered volcanic host rock, a feature OD6 says may assist optical sorting. Large-format Blue Bell samples previously returned 91.6% CaF₂ in testwork, and further metallurgical and ore-sorting programs are intended to assess whether breccia and stockwork material can be upgraded towards Metspar or Acidspar products.
The company’s broader funding position has recently improved through a A$6.92 million placement, while Quinn drilling and bulk sampling remain dependent on approvals. OD6 is progressing US Forest Service permitting and plans early-2027 maiden drilling and bulk sampling at Horseshoe and Mammoth, with Blue Bell requiring its own future permitting work.
Next tests will determine whether Blue Bell scales
Immediate work at Blue Bell includes geological interpretation, follow-up mapping and sampling, and testing of the mineralised extensions. Extensional assays from reconnaissance work to the west are pending. Across Quinn, the company is also advancing environmental and cultural studies, ore-sorting work and permitting for future drilling.
The filing therefore delivers a strong exploration signal rather than a project valuation milestone. The key question is whether the high grades persist below surface and along strike, and whether the broader breccia and stockwork zones can produce consistent, recoverable feed for the central processing model.
Bottom Line?
Blue Bell has expanded Quinn’s exploration story, but follow-up drilling and metallurgical results must convert striking surface grades into evidence of a mineable system.
Questions in the middle?
- Will drilling confirm continuity and economically meaningful true widths beneath Blue Bell’s surface exposures?
- Can optical sorting consistently upgrade the breccia and stockwork material into saleable Metspar or Acidspar feed?
- How quickly can US Forest Service permitting extend from the planned Horseshoe and Mammoth program to Blue Bell?