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Significant high-tenor Rare Earth Element (REE) results have been returned from recent soil geochemistry surveys at Impact Minerals Limited’s (ASX:IPT) 100% owned Arkun Project located 150 km east of Perth in the emerging mineral province of southwest Western Australia (Figure 1).
- Rare Earth Element anomalism of up to 5,880 ppm (0.59%) Total Rare Earth Oxide (TREO+Y) and Nd+Pr of up to 21% has been returned from soil sampling at the Arkun Project.
- The anomaly covers at least a 3 km2 area at greater than 1,000ppm TREO and is open along strike to the northwest and southeast.
- The soil anomaly is developed in weathered granite and is a prime target for a large clay-hosted REE deposit. The granite covers a further area of about 170 km2 which has yet to be explored.
- Another new prospect, Swordfish, and the previously identified Horseshoe prospect attest to the significant prospectivity for REE mineralisation across the Arkun project.
- Early drilling and bulk sampling for metallurgical test work is planned for the next two Quarters.
Very significant assays of up to 5,880 parts per million (ppm) Total Rare Earth Element Oxides and Yttrium (TREO +Y) have been returned from the newly identified Hyperion prospect in the northwestern part of the project area (Figure 2). These are some of the highest TREO-in-soil results reported recently in Western Australia. A further anomaly with up to 1,783 ppm TREO+Y has also been identified at Swordfish. 10 km southeast of Hyperion (Figure 2).
These new anomalies add to the previously reported significant and large, 10 km long REE anomaly at the Horseshoe Prospect located 25 km east of Hyperion (Figure 2) and emphasise the significant exploration potential for REE at the Arkun project (ASX Release 1st June 2023).
Impact Minerals’ Managing Director, Dr Mike Jones, said, “The discovery of the Hyperion Prospect is a significant breakthrough in exploring the Arkun Project, which has so far focused on nickel, platinum, and copper. Impact's exploration strategy recognises that the Corrigin Tectonic Zone has potential for various commodities, including Rare Earth Elements (REEs), and the Hyperion Prospect could host a large REE deposit in the clays developed in weathered granite. However, the key to an economic discovery is to evaluate how easily the REEs can be extracted through simple acid leaching. For this purpose, initial drill testing and bulk sampling for metallurgical test work will be conducted in the upcoming field season. The extraction characteristics will help guide resource definition drilling later in the year”.
Figure 1. Location and regional geological setting of Impact’s Arkun and other projects in the emerging mineral province of southwest Western Australia. Significant nickel deposits are shown in orange, lithium deposits in green and gold deposits in yellow.
Figure 2. Location and interpreted bedrock geology of the Hyperion, Swordfish and Horseshoe Rare Earth Prospects within the Arkun Project. Soil geochemistry surveys are shown in orange and red.
Hyperion Prospect
The soil geochemistry results have defined an area of more than 3 km2 at greater than 1,000 ppm TREO+Y at Hyperion (Figure 3). Five samples returned greater than 2,500 ppm TREO+Y with a peak value of 5,880 ppm (0.58%) TREO+Y, amongst some of the highest tenor REE soil values reported in Western Australia. A selection of assays containing more than 1,000 ppm TREO is given in Appendix 1.
Within the anomaly, two broad northwest-southeast trending zones of more than 1,500 ppm TREO+Y-in- soils extend for 2.5 km along-trend and are open in both directions (Figure 3).
The anomaly has an average neodymium plus Praesedynium percentage of about 20%, typical of most regolith-hosted mineralisation in the region with Heavy REE contents of between 54 ppm and 200 ppm within the >1,000 ppm parts of the anomaly (Appendix 1). This is encouraging for discovering the more economically compelling Heavy Rare Earths close to the surface.
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