Australia’s next pure rare earths producer Hastings Technology Metals Limited (ASX: HAS) has reported drill results from the Bald Hill deposit, as part of the Company’s 2020 exploration drilling program across the Yangibana rare earths project in Western Australia’s Gascoyne region.
HIGHLIGHTS:
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Results from the extension drilling program at Bald Hill, the largest deposit at the Yangibana Rare Earths Project, confirm continuation of mineralisation along strike to the south connecting to the 4km long Simon’s Find – Frasers trend.
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Drilling comprised 68 holes to a maximum depth of 144m following up previous intercepts targeting areas outside of the current resource envelopes.
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The majority of holes reported significant intercepts of grades above the lower economic TREO cut-off grade for Bald Hill.
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Bald Hill South East deposit has been extended by at least 850m and remains open down-dip to the east and along strike.
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High-grade and shallow intersections from Bald Hill include:
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4m @ 3.26% TREO from 63m
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4m @ 1.90% TREO from 63m
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4m @ 1.53% TREO from 6m
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3m @ 1.01% TREO from 0m
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2m @ 1.02% TREO from 36m
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The Bald Hill Resource Estimate will be updated during Q1 2021.
Bald Hill is the largest Yangibana deposit in terms of estimated Mineral Resources and calculated Ore Reserves and forms a key component to the overall Yangibana start-up. This phase of drilling had two main objectives:
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to follow up on previous resource drilling to infill existing geological gaps and knowledge; and
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to delineate further strike potential to the south towards Simon’s Find.
In line with previous announcements with regards to drilling at Yangibana during 2020, the majority of the holes released as part of this announcement intersected economic intervals above the minimum cut-off for Bald Hill with a number of intercepts well above the average resource grade for Bald Hill calculated at 0.96% TREO.
Hastings Technology Metals Chief Operating Officer Andrew Reid commented: “This is further confirmation that the unique geology at Yangibana is capable of underpinning a highquality, long-life operation. Given the extremely high success rate of drilling to date, there is clear potential for further Mineral Resource expansion across the entire Yangibana project area.
“These drilling results continue to demonstrate the potential scale and quality not just of Bald Hill but other Yangibana deposits and we estimate that the project has additional growth potential. Further drilling results are expected over the coming weeks. In the meantime, we have begun the process of updating the Mineral Resource estimates and Ore Reserves.”
