Mount Ridley Mines Limited (ASX: MRD) has extended the Mt Ridley Central zone of REE targets to 30 km long by 11 km wide, with regional drilling identifying two new targets, the Jules and Vincent Prospects, which flank previously reported mineralisation at Winston’s and Keith’s.
The company has received the first group of assay results from its inaugural drilling programme specifically targeting clay-hosted rare earth element (REE) mineralisation at Mt Ridley in Western Australia.
“With 30% of the assays received, we have confirmed that the REE mineralisation is very widespread within the company’s tenements, and new targets with thick intervals of REE mineralisation grading above 800 ppm TREO, and in some cases with TREO at more than 10,000ppm metres, have been intersected at Vincent’s and Jules’ Prospects,” Mount Ridley’s Chairman, Peter Christie, said.
“Winter rain has halted drilling, however the next phase of Regional Drilling, in the order of 20,000m of aircore, is permitted and will proceed when ground conditions improve over the coming months.
“In the meantime, we are looking forward to receiving the assays for the remaining 70% of our drill holes over the next few months that are likely to generate more targets for follow up as the broader regional picture unfolds.”
Aircore Drilling Success
The Mount Ridley REE Project is located approximately 50km north of the Port of Esperance Western Australia with an area covering approximately 3,400 sq. km.
Commencing in March 20221 , the company undertook drilling adjacent to known REE mineralisation at the Winston’s Prospect and first-pass Regional Drilling throughout the Project where accessible tracks were available, using two aircore drilling rigs for much of the duration of the programme.
The company’s aircore programme saw:
• 409 holes (MRAC0862-MRAC1114, MRAC1200-MRAC1355) drilled for 18,927m; and
• from these, 8,497 samples were submitted to a commercial laboratory.
By stage, the work completed to date is as follows:
Stage 1 – Primary Target Infill Drilling: 64 aircore holes drilled for 3,168m along the north-western flank of known mineralisation at the Winston’s Prospect; and
Stage 2 – Regional Drilling: 345 aircore holes drilled for 15,759m, spaced 400m apart along existing tracks, to locate previously unrecognised zones of REE mineralisation.
The company believes it is likely that REE mineralisation will be deposited in anastomosing channels within the greater Eocene-aged Bremmer Basin.
30% of drill holes assayed to date, 3,059 assays of samples from 118 holes2 have been received.
Other samples remain at various stages of analytical processing, with the laboratory continuing to experience major delays in assay turn-around time.
The new drill results have:
• significantly extended mineralisation along the north-western flank of Winston’s and added at least two km in a north-easterly direction, making the Winston’s Prospect now at least 11 km long and over two km wide;
• identified new mineralisation targets for further drilling, including the new Vincent’s and Jules’ Prospects, located southwest and northeast of previously known mineralisation; and
• extended the overall central REE corridor, which includes Winston’s, Keith’s, Marcellus’, Jules’ and Vincent’s, with mineralisation identified in a zone that is 30 kilometres long and up to 11 kilometres wide – confirming the extensive distribution of REE mineralisation within the Project.
The company said the grade, thickness, and wide-spread nature of the REE mineralisation intersected to date and in particular, the proportion of total rare earth oxides (TREO3 ) made up of heavy rare earth oxides (HREO4 40%) and magnet rare earths (MREO5 34%) is very encouraging.
For further information please visit: https://mtridleymines.com.au/
