Tivan’s high‑grade fluorite at Sandover: mine design and pit optimisation lens
Reviewed by Joe Ashwell
First reported on Australian Mining
30 Second Briefing
Tivan’s Stage Two drilling at the Sandover Fluorite Project in the Northern Territory has intersected 3m at 74.3 per cent CaF₂, with mineralisation remaining open along strike and at depth. The company completed 58 reverse circulation holes totalling 5,884m across seven discrete fluorite reefs, providing tighter control on reef geometry and continuity. Results point to potential for a sizeable, high-grade fluorite resource, with implications for mine design, pit optimisation and future metallurgical testwork focused on acid-grade concentrate.
Technical Brief
- Reef-scale drilling density now supports more reliable modelling of dip, true thickness and potential pit wall orientations.
- Open mineralisation along strike and depth will likely require step-out fences to constrain ultimate pit limits.
- High CaF₂ grades point towards acid-grade concentrate flowsheets, with comminution and flotation testwork now critical.
- Geometry control from this phase will feed directly into preliminary mine slope design and haul ramp layouts.
- For similar fluorite projects, clustered high-grade reefs often favour multiple small pits or staged cutbacks over a single large void.
Our Take
Tivan’s Sandover Fluorite Project in the Northern Territory sits alongside its Speewah fluorite work in Western Australia, and our database shows only a handful of fluorite- and calcium fluoride–tagged pieces, suggesting the company is building a relatively specialised position in this niche commodity across multiple jurisdictions.
The Stage Two program’s 58 RC holes across seven reefs at Sandover follow the earlier regulatory and heritage approvals for drilling at the Walshy’s Wall target, indicating that permitting risk in the Northern Territory is now largely behind the project and the focus is shifting to resource definition and geometry of the high-grade zones.
With Tivan simultaneously advancing tungsten at Molyhil and fluorite at both Sandover and Speewah, the high CaF₂ grades at Sandover strengthen a multi-asset critical minerals narrative that may help the company when engaging debt advisers and strategic partners already flagged in the Speewah financing coverage.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
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