Australian Bauxite Limited (ABx) said this week that its drilling campaign at Deep Leads and Rubble Mound rare earth elements (REE) discoveries in northern Tasmania due to the high-grade results that the firm has returned in recent test drills.
ABx says the mobilization of the RC drill rig site was accomplished a week ago, and they expect that the 120-hole drilling schedule is expected to last for three months. ABx will be fast-tracking the assay results and expect to have a batch in hand in only a few weeks.
Ultimately, the intent of the drilling is to extend the zone of mineralization between Deep Leads and Rubble Mound plays. ABx notes that now is a prime time for drilling, as certain targets in low lying areas have been inaccessible on account of recent significant rainfall.
In addition, ABx has filed for a new exploration license application for the tracts of land connecting Deep Leads and Rubble Mound and the recent discovery at Wind Break, which is around 8 miles to the northeast. The firm hopes that results of testing in that area will allow them to redraw the area as a larger REE play.
ABx Group CEO Mark Cooksey said in a press release that the results so far are quite promising.
“I am delighted to report that our first drilling campaign for 2023 has kicked off ahead of schedule. This is a critical campaign in understanding the potential scale of ABx’s REE domain in northern Tasmania. While this campaign will seek to extend the mineralised zone between the Rubble Mound and Deep Leads discoveries, it may be extended to also test the 13.5km corridor between Wind Break and Rubble Mound / Deep Leads.”
“This is particularly exciting because ABx has already discovered an isolated patch of high-grade REE intercepts one third of the way between Wind Break and Rubble Mound / Deep Leads, which provides a strong indication that the three discovery locations are connected as parts of a very large REE domain,” he continued.
“It is also encouraging to note that, as our exploration program expands, we continue to receive positive landowner support. I look forward to updating the market with assay results from this campaign and the ANSTO desorption test results.”
Based in Sydney, ABx conducts operations in Tasmania, Queensland, and New South Wales. The firm boasts combined JORC resources of 124 million metric tons in twenty-two tenements covering almost two thousand square kilometers in Eastern Australia. Its Binjour tenement in Queensland is considered by the company to be its flagship project.
