Mamba Exploration Limited (ASX: M24) has intersected very wide and shallow significant clay hosted TREO mineralization in initial shallow Air Core drilling completed over the eastern gravity anomaly at the Hyden REE project in the wheatbelt of Western Australia.
“It is pleasing to intersect such significant widths and grades of clay REE mineralization from the initial drilling at the gravity anomaly at Hyden,” Managing Director, Mike Dunbar, said.
“The initial drilling was designed as a first pass test of the target, which extends for over 2km north south and around 1km east west. The drilling identified very significant widths and grades of regolith hosted mineralization with TREO grades commonly over 1,000ppm with zones of mineralization of up to 59m thick.
“Also surprising was that of the 58 holes completed, 45 intersected significant mineralization and mineralization extended to the end of 26 of the holes. This highlights not only that the mineralization is very widespread, but it is also remarkably consistent within the mineralized intervals.
“While we have been surprised by the width and consistency of the mineralization, it is also surprising that the mineralization is so shallow, with little to no surficial cover.
“The higher-grade mineralization remains open to the north and south and can now be traced for over 2,000m north south and extends for over 800m east to west and the higher grade zones average 30m thick.
“While the bedrock source of the mineralization has not yet been identified, the additional geochemical data collected will be used to identify and hopefully vector into the bedrock source and will assist in determining the mineralogy of the REE mineralization.
“While the geochemical evaluation continues, metallurgical leaching test work has also commenced on a number of the zones of mineralization from both the clay target zone and also the eastern gravity target area. These preliminary tests are designed to get an initial understanding of the leachability of the REE mineralization within the project.”
Of the 58 holes completed, 45 intersected significant mineralization, with 26 holes ending in mineralization. The significant intersections can be broadly broken down into three categories, those with very wide and higher-grade zones (which have an interval x grade of greater than 30,000ppm TREO), those with wide zones of moderate grade mineralization (interval x grade of 10,000 – 30,000 ppm TREO) and narrower or lower grade zones of mineralization (interval x grade of <10,000 ppm TREO).
Of particular interest is that the drilling over the gravity anomaly target area identified significantly higher grades and broader intervals of REE mineralization compared to the intersections within the “clay target area”.
The new drilling over the gravity target area has returned results (using interval x grade) that are three to four times more significant than the drilling completed over the clay target area.
Further evaluation is being undertaken of the full geochemical data set to better understand the source and mineralogy of the REE mineralization within the project, to assist in the ongoing exploration efforts.
The geochemical evaluation will be combined with the geophysical data, geological logs, and the previous SEM and petrology that has been completed over the project to assist in providing a vector towards the bedrock source of the mineralization.
In addition to the ongoing geochemical evaluation, additional metallurgical samples have also been collected and submitted to ALS for initial leach test work to determine the preferred processing path for the regolith REE mineralization.
For further information please visit: https://mambaexploration.com.au/
