Key Highlights

  • Australian Silica Quartz Group says finding an offtake partner for its White Swan kaolin project near Esperance is the board's priority.
  • The White Swan project has an inferred JORC 2012 resource of 47.3 million tonnes, and a Mining proposal for 250,000 tonnes a year was approved on 27 May 2026.
  • Closing cash at 30 September 2026 was $912,000 with no debt, after net operating cash outflow of $542,000 in the quarter.

Australian Silica Quartz Group Ltd (ASX:ASQ) has set out its plan to secure an offtake partner for its White Swan kaolin project near Esperance in Western Australia, in its quarterly activities and Cash Flow report for the quarter ended 30 September 2026. The company says finding an offtake partner is the board's priority, after which mining and direct shipping would begin.

ASQ completed the purchase of Australian Kaolin Pty Ltd on 1 July 2026, issuing 100,000,000 shares to its shareholders, of which 90,683,754 are in voluntary Escrow for up to 24 months. The project carries an inferred JORC 2012 resource of 47.3 million tonnes, with a product Yield of 49.2 per cent at minus 45 microns, equating to 23.2 million tonnes of product. Reported product qualities include brightness of 71.9 per cent, alumina of 34.5 per cent and silica of 49.5 per cent.

A mining proposal for a 250,000 tonne a year free-dig, near-surface open pit direct shipping operation was approved on 27 May 2026. The site is 35 kilometres by sealed road from Esperance port. Metallurgical work showed raw bulk sample mineralogy of about 47 per cent kaolinite and 50 per cent quartz, and a single-stage dry cyclone mill and classifier lifted kaolinite to about 83 per cent.

About 200 tonnes of bulk sample was excavated, of which about 50 tonnes was bagged and trucked to Perth, with the balance stockpiled. Samples have been sent to prospective customers, and ASQ is working towards non-binding memoranda of understanding for bulk export through Esperance. A management visit to China is planned in the coming weeks, and sea containers of bulk sample are due to ship to Chinese customers in the same period. A feasibility study based on memorandum terms is the next step after those agreements.

Other projects

At Quartz Hill in Queensland, the company reports a resource of 17.3 million tonnes at 99.04 per cent silica, with an export market assessment under way. At Gilbert Ranges, 15 of 26 rock chips exceeded 99.4 per cent silica, but exploration awaits grant of tenement EPM 29311 and land access. At Lake Seabrook, the best purity achieved so far is 99.993 per cent silica after nine-stage purification, compared with a starting point for crucible grade of about 99.997 per cent, so laboratory trials are continuing. At Albany, an inferred sand resource of 11.6 million tonnes is subject to a scoping study. No drilling took place at the Koolyanobbing gold project, and results from soil sampling are pending.

Cash and funding

Australian Silica Quartz Group (ASX:ASQ) had no customer receipts in the quarter. Net operating cash outflow was $542,000, including $256,000 on exploration and $298,000 on administration and corporate costs. Closing cash was $912,000, with no debt, which the Appendix 5B converts to an estimated 1.7 quarters of funding. The company intends to sell its Bindoon property, independently valued at $2.5 million in August 2024 and now subdivided into two lots listed for sale, and says the proceeds will fund its work programme. The report gives no timetable or agreed price for a sale. Related-party payments totalled $169,000.

Risks and caveats

Customer interest in the kaolin is described only as non-binding, and the kaolin resource is in the inferred category. Continued operations depend on the property sale. The report contains some inconsistencies, including a resource table dated August 2023 with a footnote referring to December 2023, and a director Placement of 4,750,000 shares at 2 cents that does not reconcile to the $75,000 gross Equity raising shown in the cash flow statement.