Australian Bauxite Limited (ABx) updated the market this week on the estimated volume of rare earth elements (REE) at its Deep Leads project in Tasmania, noting a 350 percent increase to 13.9 million metric tons.
The firm said in a press release that the Mineral Resource Estimate covered only 16 percent of the area the firm has identified as potential sites for resource expansion drilling. The resource expansion came from the first quarter of holes drilled in the drilling program currently underway, which also identified thicker zones of up to 100 feet in depth.
ABx Group Managing Director and CEO Mark Cooksey was ecstatic over the results of the latest testing.
“The substantial upgrade of the Mineral Resource at a higher cut-off grade is a phenomenal result, and I am exceptionally pleased with the emerging deposit at Deep Leads – northern Tasmania’s first clay-hosted rare earths discovery.”
“Following these results, Deep Leads has been confirmed to have a strike length extending 7km with the mineralised area open in all directions,” he continued. “The area covered by Resource drilling has increased from 2.35km2 to 5.73km2, which is less than 17% of the total 35km2 prospective area.”
Cooksey went on to note that the discovery at Rubble Mound, which is four miles southeast of Deep Leads, may ultimately extend the REE mineralization horizon past six miles. The mineralization will ultimately aid the firm in determining where next to drill.
“While the growing size of this shallow mineralised channel discovered at Deep Leads is a major revelation, I encourage investors to look closely at the project, which is enriched with high-value rare earths used for permanent magnets in advanced technologies, such as neodymium, praseodymium, terbium and dysprosium.”
Cooksey said that the firm’s work with Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) backs up ABx’s assertion that the mineralization is ionic adsorption clay. Such clay can be processed in an inexpensive manner to yield significant amounts of REE, he asserted.
“Not all clays are created equal and, while clay-hosted REEs are an emerging exploration target, very few deposits globally are confirmed as IAC.”
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.
