ASX-listed explorer White Cliff Minerals is closing on a maiden 100-hole, 3000m air core campaign at its Hines Hill rare earths project about 200km east of Perth in WA after submitting a program of work to the Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety, or “DMIRS”.
The proposal follows the recent acquisition of a land access agreement and a reconnaissance soil sampling program that returned grades as high as 550 parts per million total rare earth oxides, or “TREO”.
The company says it has tied down the services of Strike Drilling to complete the probe.
Once approved by DMIRS, White Cliff envisions the program will plunge holes to a depth of about 30m deep on a 200m x 200m spacing. The company says the campaign will cover a central area of about 1.2km by 1km.
Management states the decision to pre-emptively enlist the services of Strike is based on constructive negotiations with the site’s proprietor, registration of a land access agreement and the program of work offer.
The company is now only one green-light away from launching a maiden drilling campaign at Hines Hill and will be eager to follow up on some encouraging rare earth sniffs.
In April this year, White Cliff collected approximately 80 soil, rock chip and laterite samples over its 128 square kilometre tenement package in WA’s Wheatbelt region.
Along with the 500-plus ppm result, the explorer says 11 of the 81 samples bagged exhibited anomalous concentrations of over 300 ppm TREO.
White Cliff believes the anomalous soil samples are associated with a pair of magnetic features at Hines Hill that are interpreted to be carbonatite intrusives – geological features earmarked as key sources of rare earths.
The two magnetic zones take in an area of about 5 and 2 square kilometres and sit in the northeast and southwest of the project’s tenure.
White Cliff now plans on targeting the magnetic anomalies with more comprehensive work and is planning a reconnaissance sampling program at its wholly owned North Kellerberrin rare earths project west of Hines Hill.
The company considers North Kellerberrin prospective for ionic clay style mineralisation – a highly economic type of deposit that commonly supports low-cost drilling and high concentrations of rare earths.
White Cliff Minerals’ Technical Director, Ed Mead said:"Hines Hill, and the adjoining North Kellerberrin project, are significantly underexplored tenements with potential to host ionic clay style REE deposits, with Hines Hill also having the potential for primary REE’s if the tentatively interpreted carbonatite intrusives are proven in drilling.”
Interest in rare earths has reached a fever pitch following the commodities ongoing importance in the clean energy space.
The material is commonly used to produce permanent magnets – important ingredients in manufacturing electric vehicles and wind turbines.
Recent studies suggest that the global transition to low-carbon energy sources could drive the demand for rare earths to over 304,000 metric tonnes per year, about 100,000 tonnes more than today’s requirements.
China is currently responsible for close to 80 per cent of the world’s supply and countries around the globe are now looking to localise supply to temper likely price rises and alleviate supply chain issues.
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By Matt Birney
