Australia’s next rare earths producer Hastings Technology Metals Ltd (ASX: HAS) (Hastings or the Company) is pleased to advise that a drilling contractor has been engaged to commence the 2021 exploration and resource drilling program at the Company’s Yangibana Rare Earths Project (Yangibana), in WA’s Gascoyne region.
HIGHLIGHTS
This drilling program will target and further delineate the near surface mineralised system in close proximity to the proposed processing plant containing world-class compositions of neodymium and praseodymium (NdPr) up to *52% of TREO that were discovered by Hastings at the Yangibana Rare Earths Project in 2020.
- Resource Definition reverse circulation (RC) drilling will commence along the 8km of defined economic mineralisation from Bald Hill – Simon’s Find – Fraser’s.
- Program to include 140 holes for 11,000m of RC drilling focusing on extension and infill holes where >50% of total rare earths oxides (TREO) was NdPr and where mineralisation is interpreted to remain open in all directions.
- The drilling is targeted to:
- Increase existing shallow resources down dip of existing drilling;
- Increase drill hole density, targeting upgrading of Inferred Resources to Indicated or Measured Resource categories; and
- Targeting close proximity to the location of the proposed processing plant, supplementing early plant feed.
- A maiden Simon’s Find Ore Reserve of 1.72Mt @ 0.57% TREO (52% of TREO stated as NdPr) was
announced to the ASX on 27 July 2021. - The NdPr:TREO ratio of 52% is more than three times the world’s average at 16% and twice the level of the next closest project.
- NdPr represents more than 90% of the value in the Yangibana basket of rare earth elements.
- NdPr is the key component in permanent magnets and a major factor driving rare earth pricing growth over the next decade enabling green technologies.
The focus of the drilling program is twofold. Firstly, it is designed to extend currently known, shallow down dip mineralised extensions along the Bald Hill – Simon’s Find – Fraser’s trend with the intention of increasing the existing 27.42Mt JORC Mineral Resource (see ASX announcement dated 5 May 2021). The second aspect of the program will be to infill drill near-surface portions of this trend, which have insufficient drilling to be classified as Measured or Indicated Resources. Significant potential exists to conduct additional drilling over a 2.7km long zone which is currently classified either as an Inferred Resource or presently outside of the current Mineral Resource.
