Albany
The Albany project consists of 5 exploration license applications covering a total of 761km2 and is 100% owned by ASQ. The Albany project covers ground that is adjacent to the existing Austsand Mining operation which produced and exported around 240,000 tonnes of SiO2 sand using the existing CBH bulk grain ship loading facility at the Albany Port in 2016. Austsand is owned by the Japanese trading houses Tochu Corporation, Toyota Tsusho Corporation and shipping partner Tsuneishi Holdings. It is understood that the sand is exported to Korea and Japan and is being used in glass industries including the TFT and LCD industries.
The sand in the area is generally a very fine, and potentially high grade product. In comparison to the silica sand in the Gingin project, the Albany silica sand has a slightly lower silica grade, >99.8%, and has a smaller particle grain size, making it attractive to different markets.
Previous exploration and test work undertaken by a large Japanese trading house has identified the silica sand within the company's tenements as being suitable for the Japanese glass industry.
The company is assessing various target areas with specific reference to accessibility, distance to port and currently evaluating various ship loading options to load silica via the bulk shiploading facilities from the Albany Port.