Australian heavy rare earths producer Northern Minerals (ASX: NTU) has provided an exploration update for the Browns Range Project in the East Kimberley region of Western Australia. Since the discovery of Dazzler in mid-2018, the Company has been assessing and investigating the potential of unconformity-related deposits in and around Browns Range.
HIGHLIGHTS
· Recent success at Dazzler confirms ‘unconformity’ prospectivity;
· Dazzler average grade is nearly triple the grade at Wolverine and Gambit;
· 2020 exploration plans will prioritize high-grade unconformity targets; and
· Further reverse circulation (RC) drilling has commenced at Dazzler and other new targets.
This work has initially focussed on the area around Dazzler and Iceman, including a mineralised zone located between the two prospects. As a new discovery, Northern Minerals wanted to better understand the controls on mineralisation in order to assist with future targeting.
Unconformity Related Mineralisation
Northern Minerals’ geologists first postulated the unconformity as a mineralisation target following anomalous geochemistry results in and around the scarp slope that highlights the unconformable contact.
Drilling in 2018 encountered mineralisation in the Gardiner Sandstone, above the unconformable contact with the Browns Range Metamorphics. This was unexpected as all previous intercepts were within the older metamorphic unit.
The drilling also highlighted that the mineralisation in and around the contact was of a significantly higher grade than the other Browns Range deposits that have been discovered to date. Mineralisation is believed to be structurally controlled, with northwest trending structures identified as being most likely to control mineralisation.
Northern Minerals’ Managing Director and CEO, George Bauk, said “Exploration will continue to be a value-add for Northern Minerals in 2020.
“The implementation of ore sorting technology has highlighted the potential to increase the grade of the feed going into the plant by approximately two times.
“The blending of higher-grade Dazzler-style ore into the run-of-mine feed has the potential to be a game changer by significantly improve the economics of Browns Range.
“We look forward to supporting the exploration team as they continue to deliver for Northern Minerals and our shareholders.”
