Diversified metals company ABx Group is again spinning the drill bit in a 6.5km contiguous corridor between two deposits of rare earth elements, or “REE” in northern Tasmania, aiming to merge and expand the mineralised areas.
This latest campaign is the third to test the mineralised corridor between the company’s Deep Leads and Rubble Mound deposits in the north of the Apple Isle.
Following mobilisation of the RC rig earlier this week, this campaign has now commenced and is predicted to take six weeks to complete comprising of approximately 70 holes of aircore RC drilling and push-tube coring totalling 800 metres.
ABx Group Managing Director and CEO, Dr Mark Cooksey said: “This third campaign has all the hallmarks of a major expansion of the mineralised area with results anticipated to continue early into the new year.”
A maiden JORC resource estimation, based on previous drill results, is expected to be finalised within the next few weeks; but it is likely to be soon out of date with ABx flagging an update early next year.
Its aim is to follow up on the previous campaigns – a first-pass exploratory drilling that discovered a continuation of the REE mineralisation for the entire distance between Deep Leads and Rubble Mound rare earth discoveries.
Headline figures from that campaign included 21m at 2511 parts per million total rare earth oxides from 2m downhole and an 8m hit grading 1556 ppm total rare earth oxides also from 2m
Further drilling has confirmed a 6.5km contiguous mineralised corridor and ABx says that corridor remains open for possible extensions to the east, north and south. All those areas will be drill tested in this third campaign.
The previous drilling campaign results highlighted clay-hosted REE that occur within a shallow channel structure that increased the prospect size by 27 per cent to 5.1 square kilometres.
ABx management says a combination of its knowledge of this REE mineralisation and assay results have seen the project expand significantly, with the combined prospective area to be drill tested increasing to more than 30 square kilometres.
Follow-up drilling will primarily focus on widening the mineralised corridor by drilling holes that step out from the known northwest trending channel.
The campaign will also test in-fill targets between Deep Leads and Rubble Mound, as well as inspect a new style of REE mineralisation encountered in river flats to the south of the project.
Deep Leads and Rubble Mound are not the only rare earths deposits ABx has in Tasmania. The company’s Wind Break and Portrush discoveries sit 16km and 52km respectively from Deep Leads.
With the drill bit spinning on this third campaign and assays due in as early as November, ABx Group looks to be in an intriguing position as the global demand for battery materials continues to grow.
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By Matt Birney
