Hastings Technology Metals Limited, Australia’s next Rare Earths producer (ASX: HAS), today announced further drill results as part of the 2020 exploration drilling program for the Fraser’s North and South areas.
HIGHLIGHTS:
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Outstanding rare earth oxide grades received from 29 out of 30 drill holes from Fraser’s North and South sampling.
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High‐grade and shallow intersections from Fraser’s North and South drilling include:
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3m @ 7.28% TREO from 8m;
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Including 1m @ 18.57% TREO from 8m;
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8m @ 3.51% TREO from 31m;
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2m @ 1.67% TREO from 31m;
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6m @ 1.42% TREO from 8m; and
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4m @ 1.36% TREO from 17m.
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Highest grade intersections occur south of the current Fraser’s Open Pit (mineral resource of 1.32 million tonnes grading 1.35% TREO including 0.56% Nd2O3+Pr6O11 1 ) and extend mineralisation up to 450m in a south easterly direction.
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Drilling results from the North now confirm contiguous new mineralisation up to 250m from the Fraser’s Pit limit.
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In the South, all mineralisation remains open down dip and along strike, with surface ironstone outcrops being tracked for up to 1‐ kilometre past last drill locations.
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New results record highest grades to date from Yangibana project, with 1m samples returning grades of up to 18.57% TREO.
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Results from the South come from largely untested areas, highlighting the potential for them to merge into a single large 1.4km long Fraser’s Open Pit.
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Results will be included in an updated Fraser’s Mineral Resource estimate scheduled for year‐end completion.
The Company has so far received assay results for 30 RC drill holes in these areas since drilling commenced in early June. Numerous significant potentially economic results have been received from 29 out of the 30 holes which include some of the highest grade results yet returned from any drilling at the Yangibana project since 2014.
The majority of drilling planned for Fraser’s North and South was designed to complete 40m x 40m drilling to extensions of the 650m long Fraser’s Open Pit Mineral Resource at shallow depths that form a critical part of the early mine schedule for the Yangibana Project.
COO, Andrew Reid commented: “These fantastic results have again exceeded our expectations for the Company’s 20,000m 2020 exploration drill program, with almost every drill hole announced today intersecting rare earth grades which Hastings believe could be economic and mineable.
The exceptionally high grades from Fraser’s South (up to 18.57%) gives us a lot of confidence that we are in a rare earth zone richly endowed with huge potential, particularly given how little exploration it has seen.
Hastings is now well on its way to achieving its goal of extending mine life through testing our existing geological understanding of the Fraser’s deposit. We are now intersecting consistent mineralisation over a wide area and there remains plenty of opportunity to significantly expand the Mineral Resource in the future with open mineralisation along strike and down-dip requiring further drilling in the future.
The entire Fraser’s North to South mineralised trend is emerging as a large consistent zone which is characterised by thick near surface intercepts with grades that would potentially support a large open pit operation”.
