Torian Resources has landed a grab bag of significant rare earths hits at its new Yttria prospect at the company’s Mt Stirling project in the eastern goldfields of WA. The rare earth elements uncovered include hard to find “heavy” rare earths such as dysprosium and also include terbium, europium, neodymium and yttrium with anomalous cobalt, scandium, nickel, chromium, palladium and platinum added to mix.
The discovery was made over a strike length of 1 kilometre.
Heavy rare earth elements, or “HREE” are a group of metals critical for a greener economy. They are used in the production of industrial strength magnets required for the manufacturing of hybrid and electric vehicle motors, generators in wind turbines and high-end electronics.
According to the US Geological Survey, China tops the list for reserves of rare earth elements at 44 million tonnes and produced a staggering 85 per cent of the world’s refined rare earths in 2020.
With China’s tight-fisted control of the market and its tendency to use its dominating position as a wayward economic lever, the rest of the world is clambering for their own supplies of rare earths – and particularly heavy rare earths - as demand goes from strength to strength.
The term “rare earth” is a misnomer as rare earth metals are abundant in the earth’s crust. However, finding economic deposits of them is no small task.
In its quest to uncover gold mineralisation at its Mt Stirling project, Torian completed a total of 151 auger vacuum, or “AV” drill holes designed to examine the regionally significant Arktos Fault and adjacent structures at the Wishbone prospect as part of a search for arsenic and other gold vectoring path finder elements.
The company said its focus on the presence of Yttrium in surface soil samples was to guide AV drilling for gold exploration.
From the 151 AV drill holes completed, 36 drill holes contained anomalous yttrium values greater than 100 parts per million with a peak grade of 521ppm identified by handheld portable X-ray fluorescence analysis.
Follow-up laboratory analysis using the aqua regia leach technique yielded concentrations up to 544ppm yttrium oxide with significant enrichment of other heavy rare earths along with cobalt, scandium, nickel, chrome, platinum and palladium.
Torian says a further 21 samples were submitted to an alternate laboratory to undergo full whole rock analysis with a more appropriate technique with results due in the coming weeks.
According to the company, a dedicated AV rig continues to expand the footprint of the regolith-hosted mineral system at Ytrria.
Torian Resources Executive Chairman, Paul Summers said: “If undertaken methodically, exploration can offer many surprises. During a field traverse with our chief exploration manager Claudio Sheriff Zegers in December 2021 we came across some interesting ground which really stood out.”
“From that chance find, and the interest generated, we find ourself today releasing a most exciting discovery.”
Despite China’s dominance in the rare earths market, Australia is making firm head way on the global market with production from Lynas’ Mt Weld rare earths project currently supplying 20 per cent of world demand.
Interestingly, Lynas shares surged to a peak of $11.24 earlier this year on the back of rising rare earths prices and increased demand, up nearly 170 per cent from the same time last year.
Arafura Resources’ massive neodymium and praseodymium rich Nolans project in the Northern Territory is expected to supply up to 10 per cent of the world’s rare earth magnet supply over a 35-year mine life.
Earlier this year, Arafura’s share price tipped at 23 cents, up over 75 per cent from the previous 12 months.
Market pundits with a keen nose for rare earth elements will no doubt be casting an eye Torian’s way as news flows in over the coming months. Torian’s task now is to scrub up its Ytirra project to the point where it can show similar geology and grades to those at Lynas’ Mt Weld deposit and Arafura’s Nolans deposit.
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