Cadence Minerals plc (LON:KDNC) has noted that Hastings Technology Metals (ASX:HAS), Cadence’s joint venture partner at the Yangibana Rare Earth Project in the Gascoyne region of Western Australia, has announced further drill results as part of the 2020 Exploration Drilling Program, for the Fraser’s North and South areas.
The Company has so far received assay results for 30 RC drill holes in these areas since drilling commenced in early June. Numerous significant potentially economic results have been received from 29 out of the 30 holes which include some of the highest grade results yet returned from any drilling at the Yangibana project since 2014.
Highlights:
· Outstanding rare earth oxide grades received from 29 out of 30 drill holes from Fraser’s North and South sampling.
· High‐grade and shallow intersections from Fraser’s North and South drilling include:
o 3m @ 7.28% TREO from 8m,
- Including 1m @ 18.57% TREO from 8m,
o 8m @ 3.51% TREO from 31m,
o 2m @ 1.67% TREO from 31m,
o 6m @ 1.42% TREO from 8m, and
o 4m @ 1.36% TREO from 17m.
· Highest grade intersections occur south of the current Fraser’s Open Pit (mineral resource of 1.32 million tonnes grading 1.35% TREO including 0.56% Nd2O3+Pr6O111) and extend mineralisation up to 450m in a south easterly direction.
· Drilling results from the North now confirm contiguous new mineralisation up to 250m from the Fraser’s Pit limit.
· In the South, all mineralisation remains open down dip and along strike, with surface ironstone outcrops being tracked for up to 1‐ kilometre past last drill locations.
· New results record highest grades to date from Yangibana project, with 1m samples returning grades of up to 18.57% TREO.
· Results from the South come from largely untested areas, highlighting the potential for them to merge into a single large 1.4km long Fraser’s Open Pit.
· Results will be included in an updated Fraser’s Mineral Resource estimate scheduled for year‐end completion
2020 Exploration Program
Hasting’s commenced the 2020 drilling program with a Reverse‐Circulation (RC) drilling rig mobilised to site in mid‐June. The program will continue until 4Q 2020 and has been designed to achieve three goals:
· Validate the existing Bald Hill Mineral Resource Estimates with close spaced grade control drilling;
· Increase the Yangibana Project’s Measured and Indicated Mineral Resource; and
· Obtain core samples for additional metallurgical test work and ore characterization studies.
The Company’s geological interpretation suggests that there is substantial opportunity to add additional Mineral Resource tonnages in the area Bald Hill ‐ Simon’s Find – Fraser’s trend. This trend presents the highest opportunity to add Mineral Resources within close proximity to the Processing Plant.
Existing results support and warrant additional drilling, where near‐surface extensions to known mineralisation can be traced and identified. Observations from field mapping continue to provide new insights into the local geology and its structural settings, which conceptually offer the greatest opportunity to host additional resources.
The full HAS release can be found at: https://www.investi.com.au/api/announcements/has/1d62d67f-04b.pdf
Hastings COO Andrew Reid said: “These fantastic results have again exceeded our expectations for the Company’s 20,000m 2020 exploration drill program, with almost every drill hole announced today intersecting rare earth grades which Hastings believe could be economic and mineable.
The exceptionally high grades from Fraser’s South (up to 18.57%) gives us a lot of confidence that we are in a rare earth zone richly endowed with huge potential, particularly given how little exploration it has seen.
Hastings is now well on its way to achieving its goal of extending mine life through testing our existing geological understanding of the Fraser’s deposit. We are now intersecting consistent mineralisation over a wide area and there remains plenty of opportunity to significantly expand the Mineral Resource in the future with open mineralisation along strike and down‐dip requiring further drilling in the future.
The entire Fraser’s North to South mineralised trend is emerging as a large consistent zone which is characterised by thick near surface intercepts with grades that would potentially support a large open pit operation”.
The drilling at Fraser’s South has intercepted the predicted ironstone positions and returned consistent mineralisation results, with some of the best TREO results ever received from Yangibana. Hastings remains confident that this mineralised trend will continue in a south‐easterly direction based on surface mapping and points to the potential of further development of the Mineral Resource within the Fraser’s South corridor.
Additional future work will include step out exploration drilling along strike and drilling down dip, where the mineralisation to date has only been tested to 40m below the surface.”
Cadence CEO Kiran Morzaria commented: “We are pleased to note today’s exceptional set of drilling results from Fraser North and South. These results provide a positive read-over into the value and future potential of our joint venture with Hastings. We look forward to further developments.”
Cadence Minerals Yangibana Holding:
Cadence owns 30% of 3 Mining Leases, 6 Exploration Licences which form part of the Yangibana Rare Earth Deposit. Hastings Technology Metals owns the remaining 70%.
The current mine plan anticipates production to start from our joint venture areas (Yangibana and Yangibana North) in year 6 and continue to the end of mine life (year 13). Further details can be found in the Hastings 2019 Annual Report
