Meeka Metals’ latest assay results from its Circle Valley project near Esperance have uncovered record grades of rare earth elements mineralisation almost tripling the project’s previous highs.
One assay went 12m at 2,690 parts per million total rare earth oxides, or “TREO” including 4m at 6,894ppm TREO.
The latest results set an impressive benchmark after assays released in July had previously set a new high for Circle Valley with air-core drilling then returning a then-high of 2,245ppm TREO.
However, even more intriguing for Meeka is the level of the valuable rare earth elements Neodymium-Praseodymium, or “NdPr” returned.
Consistently high NdPr levels were returned with a headline figure of 31 per cent and several intersections reporting between 20 per cent to 30 per cent.
NdPr are two so-called magnet rare earth elements with strong and diversified demand.
They are integral to the manufacture of expensive permanent magnets used in electric vehicles and wind turbines, in addition to communications and military technology.
Meeka’s latest assays also returned high grades of scandium of up to 54 grams per tonne.
Scandium is a lightweight soft metal used to add strength in the aerospace and sports equipment industries. Though not traded on metals exchanges, it is said to fetch between $4,000 and $20,000 per kilogram in private sales.
Analysts are predicting a supply deficit in magnet rare earth oxides of between 15 per cent and 37 per cent in the short term because of global supply constraints.
The fact that China controls about 80 per cent of the world’s supply of TREO – much of it from clay-hosted deposits – also puts a premium on the resource from alternative new supply sources.
Clay-hosted deposits often enjoy significant project and cost advantages compared to those from hard rock.
Circle Valley’s rare earths accumulate within a saprolite clay horizon creating thick, near-surface mineralised zones below shallow transported cover.
Meeka says the latest assays, from the north-west at Circle Valley, show a shallow cover profile that corresponds with high-grade mineralisation rich in NdPr – and the results have got management eager for more.
Follow up work will involve further drilling for gold, re-assaying sample pulps for the total REE suite of elements and reviewing chip trays to determine the potential for ionic adsorption clay-REE deposit formation.
Infill and extensional drilling will recommence next January and the company will zero-in on the zone where the high proportion of NdPr elements coincide with shallow cover.
Meeka’s Managing Director Tim Davidson said: “This shallow high-grade mineralisation appears to trend northwest into an undrilled part of Circle Valley, which will be a focus for mineral resource infill drilling commencing in early 2023.”
“Good progress is also being made on the metallurgical front where we are working to establish methods to upgrade prior to recovery and to optimise the recovery conditions.”
An initial mineral resource remains on course for the June 2023 quarter.
Meeka owns 100 per cent of two exploration licences at Circle Valley covering 222 square kilometres of predominantly freehold agricultural land used for crop and livestock farming.
Circle Valley is one of two rare earths plays the company has near WA’s southern coast the second being Cascade to the south-west.
Cascade was pegged on the back of Circle Valley’s potential and is an impressive tenure of more than 2000 square kilometres.
Meeka Metals was Meeka Gold until June this year when shareholders decided to rebrand the company to better reflect the opportunity presented by rare earths.
Its shares popped more than 8 per cent to an intra-day high of 7.5 cents on the latest news.
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By Matt Birney
