Discovered in 2007, the project is located along the Barton shoreline within the Wanna Lakes area of the northern Eucla Basin, 25 kilometres from Western Australia’s state border with South Australia and 220km north of the transcontinental railway.
The Cyclone deposit occurs within adjoining tenements M69/141 (Cyclone), held by Diatreme’s wholly owned subsidiary, Lost Sands Pty Ltd, and R69/1, (Cyclone Extended), held by Diatreme directly.

In November 2014, Western Australia’s Department of Mines and Petroleum granted a Mining Lease for the project (within ML69/141), which followed the signing of a project agreement with the traditional owners, the Pila Nguru Spinifex People. In January 2017, the project received final ministerial consent, allowing for the development of a mineral sands mine and associated infrastructure.

In January 2017, Diatreme updated the Cyclone Mineral Resource estimate to 203Mt at 2.3% heavy minerals (HM) (1% HM cut-off grade) containing 4.70Mt of HM (refer to Diatreme’s ASX announcement dated 27 April 2017).

In January 2018, Diatreme signed Cooperation and Consulting Services agreements with leading mining services company China ENFI Engineering Corporation (ENFI), for the completion of Cyclone’s definitive feasibility study. ENFI, which is backed by one of the world’s largest mining groups, China Minmetals, also agreed to use its network within China’s state-owned enterprise and banking sectors to assist in sourcing potential project investors, offtakers and project debt funding.

In November 2018, Diatreme released a positive definitive feasibility study (DFS) for the Cyclone project. The results were based on life of mine production of 1.94Mt of heavy mineral concentrate (HMC), containing 936kt zircon and producing 772kt of zircon final product.

Diatreme has continued to engage with a range of parties to unlock shareholder value from the Cyclone Zircon Project. Talks are advancing and Diatreme anticipates a number of opportunities for Cyclone’s development, with both domestic and international interest in this high-grade zircon project.