Askari dialled in on Gascoyne rare earths hotspot

Askari Metals’ latest auger drilling campaign has revealed encouraging total rare earth oxides (TREO) hits as high as 4505 parts per million at its 100 per cent-owned Red Peak project in Western Australia’s Gascoyne region.

Notably, it comes just a week after its neighbour Krakatoa Resources set the ASX alight with a 130 per cent share price jump after it discovered a new niobium-rare earths target at its Mt Clere project. Red Peak sits to the immediate south-east of Krakatoa’s Mt Clere rare earths-niobium project, which is north of the WA town of Meekatharra.

Askari says valuable light rare earth oxides (LREO) went as high as 4284ppm from a recent auger drilling campaign and were dominated by cerium, which assayed as high as 2990ppm – a massive 45 times higher than background. Also present within the LREO suite was lanthanum and praseodymium, which are considered of high value due to their application in critical energy transition technology such as electric motors.

Management says the average total LREO result was 231ppm, which is above the average background value of 178ppm. Heavy rare earth oxides (HREO) results peaked at 884ppm and were dominated by the elements samarium, europium, gadolinium and dysprosium. 

The company says three samples came back with HREO values greater than three times background and the maximum value is a solid 20 times greater than background. In all, 15 of Askari’s 801 auger results from Red Peak came back at more than 766ppm TREO, three times the background TREO concentration of 255ppm. 

Askari Metals managing director Gino D'Anna said: “The results of the auger drilling campaign at Red Peak have provided a significant number of high-grade REE mineralised surface results with notable high maximum results achieved by some metals like Cerium, Samarium, Gadolinium and Europium.”

Krakatoa’s Mt Clere project made headlines as a major discovery in 2021.  The operation’s flagship Tower deposit boasts a mineral resource estimate of 101 million tonnes at 840ppm TREO, with only 20 per cent of the landholding explored to date.

It is one of the biggest rare earths resources in Australia and encouragingly, Askari says Red Peak’s geology looks very similar to that at Mt Clere. The area contains some of the oldest rocks on the planet and shows severe weathering – a key ingredient in creating clays enriched with the rare earths that are used in a wide array of technologies including electronic devices, wind turbines, batteries, high-performance alloys, magnets, and medical applications such as MRI and X-ray machines.

Interestingly, if you are reading this article on a smartphone, you are holding eight different rare earths materials. If you drive a car, cerium is a critical component of the catalytic converter – a control device that changes the harmful compounds from an engine's emissions into safe gases.

When reporting on rare earths, companies may use a broad subdivision of the group into light rare earths, heavy rare earths and medium rare earths.   Australian companies often provide information on which elements are included in each category, in addition to the calculations used to determine the totals of each suite.

All but two rare earths metals – scandium and yttrium – are part of a chemical group called lanthanides and light rare earths are the lanthanides with the lowest atomic numbers. They include cerium, lanthanum, praseodymium, neodymium, promethium, europium, gadolinium and samarium.

Askari’s praseodymium hit within the light rare earths suite is significant given it is widely used in metal alloys alongside magnesium to form engine components and it is also critical in the production of permanent magnets in electric motors.

Heavy rare earths are defined by their higher atomic weights relative to light rare earths and include dysprosium, yttrium, terbium, holmium, terbium, thulium, ytterbium, yttrium and lutetium.  Although less common than their lighter counterparts, they are more valuable due to their scarcity.

Dysprosium is used in tandem with neodymium in magnets that are vital to modern tech and renewable energy. The pair are often seen reported in tandem as a percentage of TREO.

As Askari takes aim at another infill auger program at Red Peak, focussed on high-grade areas, the market is patiently awaiting news flow from work aimed at making even more rare earth hits materialise. The company’s upcoming program will consist of 635 samples – and that’s plenty of opportunity for Red Peak to show off its colours.

Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@businessnews.com.au