Australian heavy rare earths developer, Northern Minerals Limited (ASX: NTU) has announced high grade rare earth oxide geochemical results from its Browns Range project. Eight rock chip samples were collected in December from seven prospect areas. A program of RAB and/or RC drilling will commence in the June quarter. Northern Minerals has also announced a private placement to sophisticated investors, raising $2.15 million through the issue of 27.5 million shares at 7.8 cents per share.
Highlights
- High-grade rock chip samples of up to 7.19% TREO returned from regional sampling;
- Sampling returned multiple samples grading >1% TREO;
- RAB/RC drilling planned to provide first pass testing in Q2;
- RC program planned for Q3 for resource infill and step-out drilling;
- A$2.15m private Placement completed to accelerate exploration, and
- SPP to close on 31 January 2018 to fund various initiatives including exploration
Australian heavy rare earths developer, Northern Minerals Limited (ASX: NTU) (the Company) is pleased to announce high grade rare earth oxide (REO) geochemical results from the Browns Range Project.
A total of 8 rock chip samples were collected in December 2017 from 7 prospect areas. Some of the samples were collected from known prospects, while others were from new target areas.
The highlights of the geochemical results are shown below, and the location of all samples is shown on Figure 1.
TREO = Total Rare Earth Oxides – La2O3, CeO2, Pr6O11, Nd2O3, Sm2O3, Eu2O3, Gd2O3, Tb4O7, Dy2O3, Ho2O3, Er2O3, Tm2O3, Yb2O3, Lu2O3, Y2O3;
HREO% = Heavy Rare Earth Oxides – Total of Sm2O3, Eu2O3, Gd2O3, Tb4O7, Dy2O3, Ho2O3, Er2O3, Tm2O3, Yb2O3, Lu2O3 and Y2O3 as a percentage of TREO
The results are significant, given the average grade of the Browns Range deposits is 0.66% TREO. The high proportion of Heavy Rare Earths for nearly all of the samples indicates that the rare earth mineral is likely to be xenotime, the same as that at Gambit West and Wolverine, the Company’s first two open pit mines. Of particular note is the very high-grade sample (7.19% TREO) at Iceman, a prospect with a strong geochemical surface anomaly over 200m in length, which is yet to be drill tested (see Figure 2). The samples are point samples and therefore have a high potential of bias, and should not be considered as being representative of the overall mineralised structure or rock type. The samples were selected using a spectrometer and a portable XRF (measuring yttrium).
A program of RAB and/or RC drilling will commence in the June quarter, aimed at providing a first pass assessment of several of the new prospects and targets. If successful, a program of RC drilling will be undertaken in the September quarter aimed at proving up and increasing the Mineral Resources at Browns Range.
