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ChemX Receives $661,890 R&D Refund
ChemX Materials Limited (ASX:CMX) (ChemX or the Company), an Australian high purity critical materials company and 100%-owner of the HiPurA® patented process to produce High Purity Alumina (HPA) in O’Connor, Western Australia is pleased to advise it has received its FY24 R&D Refund from the ATO.
- ChemX Receives $661,890 R&D Refund
- Radium Capital Facility Repaid
As announced to ASX on 6th September 2024, the Company obtained an advance against its expected R&D Return. The refund received extinguishes the facility taken out with Radium Capital for $442,000. After repayment of fees and charges for the facility the Company has received a surplus of $207,381. The surplus will be used towards working capital for the Company.
Figure 1 – ChemX HiPurA® Solvent Extraction (SX) module completed, pending energisation infrastructure installation
Click here for the full ASX Release
This article includes content from ChemX Materials, licensed for the purpose of publishing on Investing News Australia. This article does not constitute financial product advice. It is your responsibility to perform proper due diligence before acting upon any information provided here. Please refer to our full disclaimer here.ChemX Materials Investor Kit
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ChemX Materials
Overview
ChemX Materials (ASX:CMX) is a critical materials company developing innovative processing technology to produce high purity alumina for advanced technology and clean energy applications.
ChemX Materials’ 100 percent owned, Australian patented HiPurA® process technology offers a low cost and energy intensity production method to produce high purity alumina (HPA).
HPA is used in advanced technology and clean energy applications including lithium-ion batteries, LEDs, semiconductors and synthetic sapphires. Synthetic sapphires are critical in the production of applications such as smart watches, iPhones and laptop screens.Company Highlights
- ChemX Materials Limited (ChemX Materials) is an Australian company developing an innovative, processing technology to produce high-purity alumina (HPA), this process is called HiPurA®.
- ChemX Materials owns 100 percent of HiPurA® and was granted an Australian patent for this technology in January 2024.
- High purity alumina is used in advanced technology and clean energy applications including lithium-ion batteries, LEDs, semiconductors, smart watches and iPhones.
- The HiPurA® process is modular, scalable and uses a readily available aluminous chemical as its feedstock, therefore is not reliant on mine production offtake, all of which enable the technology to be deployed close to end users' manufacturing operations.
- ChemX Materials has proven HiPurA® can produce above 4N (99.99 percent) high purity alumina at micro plant scale. This testwork indicates HiPurA® is low in cost and energy intensity.
- ChemX Materials is constructing a pilot plant to demonstrate HiPurA® can work at scale, which is the next step towards commercialisation. The pilot plant construction is underway and on track for commissioning in June 2024.
Key Business Segments
High Purity Alumina Processing Technology - HiPurA®
ChemX Materials is developing an innovative processing technology to produce high-purity alumina (HPA). This process is called HiPurA®. ChemX Materials owns 100 percent and holds an Australian patent for HiPurA®. ChemX Materials has proven HiPurA® can produce above 4N (99.99 percent) pure HPA at micro plant scale. This test work has also demonstrated that HiPurA® is superior compared to alternative technologies, offering several advantages, including:
- Lower costs – both capital and operating.
- Independent feedstock - – process is not tied to mine production and uses a readily available aluminous industrial chemical.
- Easily scalable – production output can increase based on demand.
- Modular – can be built near end users’ manufacturing operations.
- Optionality – patented technology can be licenced to end users.
- Lower carbon footprint – technology is not energy intensive.
HPA has several applications, the most important being lithium-ion batteries used in electric vehicles (EVs) and energy storage applications. HPA is used in the coating of the battery separator to enhance safety and performance. The outlook for EVs is very promising. With the adoption of EVs growing rapidly year on year as governments across the globe deploy domestic incentives and regulations to reduce the use of internal combustion engines to meet net zero targets.
HPA is also a key in the production of synthetic sapphire, which is used in LEDs, semiconductors, lasers, optical lenses and medical devices.
ChemX Materials has proven its HiPurA® technology can achieve above 99.99 percent (4N) HPA purity at micro plant scale. Following the technical success of the micro plant, ChemX Materials is constructing a 24 tpa pilot plant in Western Australia. The pilot plant is expected to be operational in June 2024.
In January 2024, ChemX Materials was granted an Australian Patent for its innovative HiPurA® technology. Based on the success of the Australian patent, it is anticipated that ChemX Materials will be afforded similar protections in other international jurisdictions. The patent is important as it provides intellectual property protection as ChemX Materials seeks to commercialise the technology globally.
HPA production from the pilot plant will be used for customer qualification and marketing purposes. ChemX Materials is actively pursuing commercial opportunities globally. Commercialisation options include:
- Build, own, operate a commercial scale plant to sell high purity alumina to end users.
- Licence the HiPurA® technology for deployment at end users’ manufacturing locations.
High Purity Manganese Project
ChemX Materials is developing a high purity manganese project. The Jamieson Tank project is located on two exploration tenements, EL 5920 and EL 6634 in the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia. These tenements collectively cover an area of 718 km2.
ChemX Materials completed a 94-hole drill program at the Jamieson Tank project, totaling 6,164 metres and released its maiden Mineral Resource Estimate in September 2023. The Mineral Resource Estimate reported 13.1 Mt at 5.7 percent manganese, with 21 percent classified as Indicated and 79 percent classified as Inferred.
High purity manganese has essential applications in lithium-ion batteries as a cathode material. Manganese provides energy density, stability and lower costs and is a critical material for modern battery chemistries. As the world pursues decarbonisation it is forecasted that the demand for manganese will grow.
With the objective of the United States Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) to reduce its reliance on Chinese sources of critical minerals, by 2025, the Jamieson Tank project is an important prospect. China currently supplies around 95 percent of the global manganese sulphate.
The South Australian jurisdiction offers excellent infrastructure. The Jamieson Tank project is in a province that is characterised by rapidly growing renewable energy infrastructure (wind, solar and hydrogen) and access to a local skilled workforce. The Jamieson Tank project is accessible by road, approximately 160 kms from the port of Whyalla and near a major regional airport.
The tenements in which the Jamieson Tank project is located also host kaolin and rare earth elements (REE) deposits. The area has historically been well known and explored for its potential for kaolin. The Kelly Tank exploration target is estimated to be 55 - 130 Mt of extractable kaolin.
In 2022, ChemX Materials undertook a drilling program and identified REE hosted within the kaolin throughout the tenements. The drilling program intersected high-grade REE mineralisation with intervals of up to 5 metres @2,468 parts per million total rare earth oxides from 7 metres. Importantly, it remains open in various directions, providing potential exploration upside for future drill programs.
Management Team
Peter Lee – Chief Executive Officer
20+ years’ experience across mining, metals processing and chemical industries within Canada and Australia. Lee has held technical leadership roles with companies including Rio Tinto, BHP, Roy Hill and WSPGolder. He is an expert in refining and electrochemical processes and a registered P. Eng Engineers and Geoscientists of British Columbia, Canada, and a member of AusIMM and AICD.
Warrick Hazeldine – Non-executive Chair
Warrick Haseldine has more than 20 years of experience across capital markets and strategic communications with a focus on battery materials. He is the co-founder of advisory firm Cannings Purple, and former chair and non-executive director of Global Lithium Resources Ltd (ASX:GL1). Hazeldine is currently a director of Surfing WA, advisory board member of Curtin University, and a non-executive director of Purple.
Stephen Strubel – Non-executive Director and Company Secretary
Stephen Strubel is the company founder with 20 years’ experience in finance and corporate governance. Struber held a senior leadership role with Patersons Securities and has been a director and company secretary for ASX-listed companies. He holds a bachelor’s degree in banking and international trade from Victoria University and an MBA from the Australian Institute of Business.
Alwyn Vorster – Non-executive Director
Alwyn Vorster has 30+ years’ experience in the resources industry, spanning several commodities including rare earths, iron ore, bauxite, potash and salt. Vorster has several senior leadership positions including chief executive officer of Hastings (ASX:HAS) and managing director of BCI Minerals (ASX:BCI) and Iron Ore Holdings (ASX:IOH). Vorster is currently non-executive director of Lindian Resources (ASX:LIN) and Arrow Minerals (ASX:AMD).
Viridion Joint Venture Signs MOU for Rare Earth Magnet Supply in Brazil
Viridion, a joint venture between Ionic Rare Earths (ASX:IXR,OTC Pink:IXRRF) and Viridis Mining and Minerals (ASX:VMM), has signed a five year memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the owner of Lab Fab.
Lab Fab, which is owned by SENAI FIEMG Innovation and Technology Centre, is South America's first rare earth magnet laboratory. The facility is located in Brazil, which is looking to boost its rare earths presence.
The MOU will target the joint development and production of rare earth magnets at Lab Fab.
Under the agreement, the companies will look to pursue common areas of interest, including the supply of raw materials from Viridion to Lab Fab for pilot production of rare earth magnets.
“The production of magnet REOs within Brazil will enable the ramp up of magnet production capability at (Lab Fab), which is targeting a ramp up in NdFeB production to 100 tonnes per annum by the end of 2026,” said Ionic Managing Director Tim Harrison in the company's press release, shared with investors on November 6.
“We see the (joint venture) as the natural partner to help deliver this within the timeframe via recycling.”
He added that working with Lab Fab will also enable the recycling of waste streams produced as activities ramp up, allowing for the development of a secure neodymium magnet supply chain in Brazil.
Ionic and Viridis announced their intention to form the 50/50 Viridion joint venture this past April, saying that the goal was to advance rare earths separation, refining and recycling in Brazil. Their intent is to commercialise and implement separation and recycling technology developed by a subsidiary of Ionic at a separation plant in Brazil.
Ionic Executive Chair Brett Lynch said in last week's release that the company's magnet recycling technology based in Belfast, Ireland, is currently being fast tracked to commercialisation in UK and European markets.
"It is the potential replication of this technology into new markets in South America, North America and Asia that is extremely exciting for shareholders as we execute our global growth strategy, hyper-scaling this closed loop technology for the circular economy of the 21st century," he explained, adding that the intent is to replicate this work in Brazil.
Don’t forget to follow us @INN_Australia for real-time news updates!
Securities Disclosure: I, Gabrielle de la Cruz, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
Up to 18% REE & 24% Copper PXRF Analyses in REE Line, Sweden - Coinciding with High Magnetic Responses
Bastion Minerals Ltd (ASX:BMO or the Company) is pleased to provide an update on its activities in Sweden, where the Company holds the highly prospective high-grade copper (Cu) and Rare Earth Elements (REE) Gyttorp area no. 100 property (Gyttorp Project or Gyttorp) and eight additional properties along the REE line (Figures 1 and 2, Table 1).
HIGHLIGHTS:
- Significant results returned with double digit percentage (%) REE and Copper, following Bastion’s recently completed reconnaissance mapping and pXRF sampling program across new properties along the REE Line granted earlier this year.
- Up to 18.5% Total Rare Earth Elements plus Yttrium (TREE+Y) and up to 24% copper in pXRF analyses associated with magnetite skarns, similar to Gyttorp1 (which are indicative of mineralisation, but represent analysis of only small volumes of rock). Results include:
- 18.56% REE (Striberg STRR001); 24.91% Cu (Striberg STRR002);
- 16.93% REE (Karlberg KARR001); 21.18% Cu (Karlberg KARR002);
- 11.2% REE (Karlberg KARR016); 19.93% Cu (Karlberg KARR037);
- 9.02% REE (Karlberg KARR010A); 13.32% Cu (Striberg STRR009);
- 6.97% REE (Striberg STRR012); 9.5% Cu (Karlberg KARR004);
- 6.25% REE (Karlberg KARR003); 8.01% Cu (Karlberg KARR021);
- 6.22% REE (Karlberg KARR010); 7.82% Cu (Nyberget NYRB004); and
- 5.66% REE (Striberg STRR011); 6.02% Cu (Karlberg KARR009).
- Properties host magnetite skarns, with widespread copper in the magnetite and REE mineralisation in the surrounding tremolite-actinolite alteration in multiple locations.
- The Company is currently analysing the distribution of associated base metals discovered during exploration and will report on these when lab results are received.
- The high magnetic response in the government magnetic data sets represents the presence of extensive mapped historical magnetite mines, which has provided a means of rapidly focusing into the areas of highest potential.
- Additional sampling planned to allow ranking of mineralised zones and selection of drill targets for shallow REE and copper mineralisation. Laboratory assay results expected late November.
Bastion is using the same approach on the newly granted properties located further north along the REE line. These properties contain similar style REE and copper mineralisation to that at Gyttorp. Reconnaissance sampling was completed in October using a portable XRF. Assay results are expected during November from this initial rock chip sampling and mapping.
Commenting on the recently completed reconnaissance mapping and pXRF sampling program across new properties, Executive Chairman, Mr Ross Landles, said:
“The REE mineralisation in the newly granted properties is of the same skarn style as at Gyttorp, with similar high grade results. Given the extensive property holding along the REE Line, we will continue to conduct sampling and mapping across the properties, in order to establish the areas with the highest REE and Cu grades and the greatest thickness and length of mineralisation. This will allow us to rank the project areas and decide which is the highest priority for drilling.”
“These properties have been prospected using a pXRF and assay results from these samples will be reported when received from the laboratory later this month.”
REE-Line Field Activities
Initial prospecting, mapping and sampling has been completed in three of the eight new properties granted along the REE line. Work has been undertaken in the Striberg property, adjoining the north side of the Gyttorp area; the Nyberg property 20 km to the north and the Karlsberg property, the most northern of the eight properties.
Exploration results from evaluation of samples using a portable XRF to evaluate the presence of REE elements, copper and other base metals, showed that the while the Nyberget property contained some samples with elevated copper (to 7.8%) the samples in that project area had a maximum of 1.2% TREE + Y.
Samples from the Karlberg property have TREE + Y samples of up to 17% (Figures 4), with local pXRF analyses of up to 21% copper. Samples in the Striberg property, directly north of Gyttorp, had TREE + Y values to 18.6% and copper to 24.9% (Figure 3), with multiple samples containing > 1% copper. Results are presented in Table 2.
Figure 1: Location of the Gyttorp property (red cross), with new properties within the black square.
The same samples analysed with pXRF have been sent to ALS laboratories for analysis of the REE and sulphide suite of minerals with results expected in late November.
Historical drill core from the Nyberget (Figure 2) project (historical Scartbergsgruvan prospect), where copper mineralisation was historically intersected, will be reviewed to evaluate whether there is associated REE mineralisation.
Click here for the full ASX Release
This article includes content from Bastion Minerals, licensed for the purpose of publishing on Investing News Australia. This article does not constitute financial product advice. It is your responsibility to perform proper due diligence before acting upon any information provided here. Please refer to our full disclaimer here.
Best Intersection – 67m @ 3,074 ppm TREO from Latest Jupiter Drilling
The Board of Critica Limited (Critica or the Company) is pleased to announce the latest results from resource drilling targeting high-grade zones at Jupiter, which forms part of the Company’s flagship Brothers REE Project.
The drilling program was designed to increase drilling density in the high-grade zones of Jupiter, to provide enhanced certainty in the continuity of this mineralisation. The assay results in this announcement firmly validate this high- grade continuity and include the best recorded intersection to date from Critica’s drilling of the Jupiter discovery.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Record-breaking intersection of 67m @ 3,074 ppm Total Rare Earth Oxides (TREO), with hole ending in mineralisation (JPAC088).
- Infill drilling reaffirms that Jupiter hosts large and consistent zones of mineralisation grading at over 2,000ppm TREO, with drilling density now at 250m x 250m in these high-grade zones.
- Thorium and uranium content remains consistently very low.
- Density measurements are being taken from the seven diamond core holes drilled in the recent program, which are also expected to provide valuable geological data for the maiden resource estimate.
- Assays are pending for the remaining 163 holes of the resource infill drilling program at Jupiter, with the maiden resource estimate on track for release by the end of the year..
Managing Director, Philippa Leggat, commented:
“We chose to increase drilling density in the high-grade zones of Jupiter to further improve confidence in the continuity of this mineralisation, ahead of our maiden resource estimate for the Brothers Project. This set of assay results have readily demonstrated this continuity.
“It’s also incredible to see our flagship project delivering another record-breaking drill intersection, this time being 67m @ 3,074 ppm TREO. This phenomenal hole (JPAC088) ended in mineralisation – even after using all drill rods we were still in rare earth mineralisation at 99 metres.
“Our outstanding technical team continue to demonstrate that Jupiter hosts consistent, high-grade rare earth mineralisation over tens of kilometres confirming the potential of Jupiter and the Brothers Project to host one of the largest clay-hosted rare earth discoveries in Australia.
“With aircore and diamond drilling complete, and final assays pending, we are well positioned to provide a detailed and high-quality dataset to our independent geologists for preparation of our maiden resource estimate. We also have several laboratories working on all aspects of our comprehensive metallurgical program, with successful beneficiation outcomes being our first goal.
“Despite existing cyclical pricing challenges in the rare earth market we have recently seen a meaningful uptick in the NdPr price, affirming our confidence that the long-term fundamentals of the rare earth market remain strong. The world is going to continue to use motors – they need permanent magnets which require rare earths. Combustion engines, electric engines, drones – the list of uses for permanent magnets is long and their uses are pervasive. Being in Australia, we are also well-positioned to benefit from the array of geopolitical factors influencing the global rare earth supply chain.
“Critica’s strategy is to take advantage of the rare earth price cycle by rapidly advancing our flagship asset in what we believe to be a temporarily low price environment. We are well-funded and focused on the ongoing addition of intrinsic value to Jupiter and the Brothers Project.
“It’s an exciting phase of the project. Our objectives are clear and we look forward to updating shareholders as we continue to achieve key milestones.”
Click here for the full ASX Release
This article includes content from Critica Limited, licensed for the purpose of publishing on Investing News Australia. This article does not constitute financial product advice. It is your responsibility to perform proper due diligence before acting upon any information provided here. Please refer to our full disclaimer here.
Pink Bark: Rare Earth, Kaolin and Uranium Potential
Allup Silica Limited (ASX: APS) (“Allup” or “Company”) is pleased to announce recent exploration results from its Pink Bark Project in southern WA has demonstrated the project’s potential for rare earth elements (REE), uranium, graphite and kaolin mineralisation.
Key points
Further analysis carried out on samples from Allup’s 2023 drilling program has been returned with the following results:
- Significant uranium results up to 232ppm U3O8 and REE up to 980ppm for total TREE of 1,212ppm.
- Highest grade of 1,985ppm total rare earth oxide (TREO) in fresh bedrock from drill hole PB019, 21 to 22m
- Significant REE anomalism discovered in supergene and bedrock over a 7km x 7km area.
- Kaolin sampling confirms ISO Brightness, grainsize, and XRD mineralogy in four locations at Pink Bark Project.
- Raw insitu kaolin from Pink Bark is comparable to Australian kaolin deposits currently in production and demonstrates a marketable product with possible co-product silica.
- Graphite-rich bedrock intersected in the south of E63/2371, in particular in drill hole PBAC058.
APS carried out additional analysis from samples taken during its November 2023 drilling program at Pink Bark to test the underlying clays of licence E63/2138 for REE potential, and for thick kaolin accumulations over large areas. The holes were drilled to fresh bedrock (blade refusal) where possible, and the bedrock samples were assayed for multi-element geochemistry.
The Albany Fraser Province has recorded several uranium occurrences. The combined rare earth and uranium mineralisation at Pink Bark is very significant. Further drilling is required to test the mineralisation for size and grade potential.
This release focuses on the Kaolin, Uranium and Rare Earth potential of the Pink Bark Project following the results of an air core drilling program that was completed in November 2023.
Introduction
The Pink Bark Project, comprises three granted Exploration Licences and one pending application area, and is located in the Albany Fraser Province's Biranup zone, north of Esperance. The tenement was acquired to explore and develop silica sand, but numerous recent nearby discoveries of REE clay- hosted deposits prompted Allup to consider the potential for such deposits on its tenement holdings.
The Biranup zone has been shown to be rich in valuable REE by the Geological Survey of Western Australia (GSWA) and modern explorers. A number of ASX-listed companies have reported wide areas of saprolitic clay enriched in rare earths overlying the Biranup late-stage granite intrusive rocks.
These deposits have been compared to China’s clay-hosted REE deposits, which have been a major source of REE for the country’s battery industry. In the Albany Fraser Province a number of carbonatites with rare earth potential have been reported and explored for rare earth mineralisation, and the Biranup granites are also rapidly emerging as a focus for exploration for clay and carbonatite-hosted rare earth deposits.
Figure 1. Pink Bark Tenement and Drill Hole Location Map
Kaolin
Allup’s previous work on kaolin at Pink Bark was reported in ASX Release dated 7 May 2024, where a significant Exploration Target was announced. Additional work to define other characteristics were recommended and these are discussed below.
Allup engaged Independent Metallurgical Operations Pty Ltd to complete further mineralology, brightness and yellowness testing on 10 samples from 10 different drill holes.
Based on the test work conducted on the 10 samples from the Pink Bark Project, IMO concludes that the percentage passing 45 µm ranged from 22.7% to 62.4%, averaging 36.7%.
Click here for the full ASX Release
This article includes content from Allup Silica Limited, licensed for the purpose of publishing on Investing News Australia. This article does not constitute financial product advice. It is your responsibility to perform proper due diligence before acting upon any information provided here. Please refer to our full disclaimer here.
September 2024 Quarterly Activities Report
ChemX Materials Limited (ASX:CMX) (ChemX or the Company), an Australian high purity critical materials company, is pleased to present its September 2024 quarterly report. The Company is developing its 100%- owned, HiPurA® process to produce High Purity Alumina (HPA) in Perth, Western Australia along with its High Purity Manganese (HPM) Project on the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia.
- Pilot Plant Commissioning progress at 95%
- HiPurA® HPA New Zealand Patent Granted
- R&D refund advance from Radium capital
Pilot Plant Commissioning progress at 95%
ChemX previously announced the successful commissioning of the Pilot Plant Leach module in Q2 CY2024, and this remains in a state of operational readiness. Delays were experienced in the construction of the Solvent Extraction (SX) module due to longer than expected lead times on key process equipment and delivery of critical electrical infrastructure.
During this period in parallel, ChemX has progressed increased safety measures including:
- Completion of double containment bunding installations and additional double walled storage vessels
- Development of enhanced safety systems supporting integrated wireless control with interlocks, alarms, and automated shutdown/startup procedures
- Development of enhanced control capabilities for optimisation of key process parameters including historization and online trend analysis
The above initiatives deliver improved safety layers with regard to solvent extraction (SX) area management and provide key inventory hold points within the process where purity may be quantitatively verified against expected elemental purity before processing further.
These cost saving measures negate unnecessary processing of sub-standard interim process batches, build towards key commercial plant design considerations, and unlock advanced process optimisation capabilities.
Figure 1 – ChemX Team pictured alongside the HiPurA® SX electrical control cabinets following successful installation
Chief Executive Officer, Peter Lee commented:
"Unfortunate delays experienced within key process equipment deliveries and electrical infrastructure works were disappointing for ChemX. Working closely with key vendors we advanced in parallel other modules of the Pilot Plant to achieve operational readiness status.”
“Electrical infrastructure installation now determines the critical path for commissioning of the HiPurA® HPA Pilot Plant and ChemX is working with its contractor and suppliers to ensure this delivered as soon as possible.”
“The company has increased investment in enhanced process safety and control systems to support permitting of the various licenses linked to commissioning of the HiPurA® Pilot Plant processes.”
“A key advantage of the patented HiPurA® process is that it is not tied to mine development and related approvals and can be readily deployed in suitable jurisdictions close to key markets and customers such as the United States, Korea and Japan.”
Click here for the full ASX Release
This article includes content from ChemX Materials, licensed for the purpose of publishing on Investing News Australia. This article does not constitute financial product advice. It is your responsibility to perform proper due diligence before acting upon any information provided here. Please refer to our full disclaimer here.Reconaissance Sampling Highlights Potential for Rare Earths and Scandium at Radium Hill
Heavy Rare Earths Limited (“HRE” or “the Company”) announces assay results from initial reference sampling at its Radium Hill project in South Australia. The Company recently announced it had acquired an 80% initial interest in the uranium rights on three projects from Havilah Resources Limited (Figure 1) (refer to ASX announcement 21 October 2024). These rights extend to rare earths (REE) and scandium (Sc) at Radium Hill.
- Assays of uranium mineralization from Radium Hill return highly elevated rare earths (up to 3.6% TREO) and scandium (up to 1081 ppm Sc2O3)
- HRE recently announced the acquisition of an 80% initial interest in uranium rights on a highly significant land package in South Australia’s Curnamona Province, including the Radium Hill Project
- These mineral rights extend to rare earths and scandium at Radium Hill
- Rare earths were first recognised at Radium Hill in 1908
- Academic studies of Radium Hill mineralization have recorded values of up to 7% REE12 and 3000 ppm Sc3
- 2.6 million lbs @ 0.12% (1,200 ppm) U3O8 was mined at Radium Hill between 1954 and 1961
Samples were analysed to test the potential for REE and Sc in uraniferous Radium Hill lode- style mineralization. These lodes are known to extend from the historic Radium Hill mine for at least 7 kilometres in a northeast direction to Bonython Hill (Figure 2). A total of five samples were collected from historic dumps, both within the historic Radium Hill Mine site, which is excluded from HRE’s Radium Hill project, and from lode extensions which are in the project area.
Mining at Radium Hill first occurred in 1908 with the main phase of mining taking place between 1954-1961. Although the main focus of mining was on production of uranium, the presence of significant quantities of rare earths have been known from the earliest stages.
Soon after discovery of Radium Hill in 1906, the famous geologist, Antarctic explorer and academic Sir Douglas Mawson, described a previously unknown uranium mineral which he named ‘davidite’ and noted the new mineral contains “a notable amount of rare earths, uranium, vanadium, and chromium”.4
During the main mining phase when 2.6 million lbs of U3O8 were mined, there was no attempt to extract rare earths or other metals until the last stages of the operation when a solvent extraction plant was constructed on the site by AMDEL (1960‐62). This plant produced mainly scandium with some yttrium oxide (Y2O3) and other rare earth oxides although production figures are unclear and ore assays unavailable.
Of the five samples in the current program, three (samples RH-1, RH-2, RH-C) were collected from ore dumps adjacent to the historic Radium Hill processing plant, one (RH-B) from a dump adjacent to a historic shaft at Radium Hill North and another (RH-A) from a stockpile at Bristowe's prospect. Sampling was designed to confirm historic reports of rare earths, scandium and other elements in Radium Hill-style uraniferous lode mineralization.
Assay results returned significant values for all five samples (Table 1).
Table 1: Radium Hill reference sample assays
In addition to uranium, it is apparent there are high concentrations of scandium and rare earths in these davidite-bearing samples which confirms the historic observations. The Company emphasises that these samples were collected and assayed for the purpose of checking the concentrations of metals associated with uranium in order to ascertain the validity of previous scant literature reports. These sample results are not purported to be representative of the mineralization in the region, which would require systematic sampling, including drilling and/or costeaning, to reach any firm conclusions. However, the associated metal results are sufficiently encouraging to warrant detailed follow up and inclusion in the Project’s future assay protocols and metallurgical treatment considerations.
Click here for the full ASX Release
This article includes content from Heavy Rare Earths, licensed for the purpose of publishing on Investing News Australia. This article does not constitute financial product advice. It is your responsibility to perform proper due diligence before acting upon any information provided here. Please refer to our full disclaimer here.
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