ASX-listed Gold Mountain is looking to significantly increase its rare earths holdings in the Brazilian State of Bahia after securing 41 new tenement applications covering more than 800 square kilometres.
Dubbed the Ronaldinho project, the new applications cover ground adjacent to tenements held by the Gina Rinehart-backed Brazilian Rare Earths.
Management says the Ronaldinho project also shares characteristics similar to Gold Mountain’s Down Under operation, which sits on the other side of Brazilian Rare Earths’ tenements to the south-east.
Down Under is less than 40km south of seven defined rare earths deposits in Brazilian Rare Earths’ tenure that comprises its Rocha da Rocha project boasting crazy high grades such as 40 per cent total rare earth oxides (TREO).
Gold Mountain is currently conducting a review of available geological, magnetic and radiometric data at Ronaldinho. It has applied for tenements over significant thorium and uranium anomalies understood to contain strongly mineralised sequences.
The company already has plans for an early exploration program at the site of the tenement applications which will consist of stream sediment sampling, radiometric mapping, channel sampling of weathered profiles in addition to reconnaissance auger drilling. This is expected to be followed up by resource drilling with either a sonic or reverse-circulation (RC) rig.
In February Gold Mountain kicked off rare earths exploration at Down Under where it holds about 970 square kilometres in the prospective Jequie province in Brazil. The company has pegged its ground largely based on areas of anomalous thorium and uranium geochemistry, which is known to be associated with rare earths mineralisation in the province.
It says the first priority is “free-digging” ionic-adsorption clay (IAC) rare earths mineralisation that exists within the first 30 to 40m of ground. It will then take a close look at the prospectivity within the hard-rock interval beneath, where it hopes mafic-ultramafic bodies and shear zones may hold exceptionally high rare earths grades.
The area has seen a rush of companies of late, all hunting for rare earths and lithium, many of those hailing from Australia – leading to the project’s patriotic Down Under name.
Gold Mountain has also begun work at its undrilled Custodia hard-rock lithium project, also in north-east Brazil, which has already produced some positive results.
Custodia remains relatively unexplored, with a total of 18 pegmatites mapped across the tenements and rock chip samples assaying as high as 431ppm lithium oxide. Stream sampling at the project has identified 15 new areas with lithium concentrations exceeding background levels and only two of the areas have seen overlapping soil sampling programs to date.
With a strong landholding in Brazil and the securing of the new tenement applications at Ronaldinho, Gold Mountain looks to be on its way to becoming a significant player in what is fast becoming recognised as an up-and-coming mining district that could potentially house significant accumulations of rare earths in addition to a plethora of other in-demand metals.
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By Michael Philipps
