Auroch Minerals (ASX:AOU) announces exploration has started at the Arden Zinc-Copper Project in South Australia to investigate the potential for Rare Earth Elements (REE) mineralisation.
Auroch is planning to conduct a soil sampling programme over the Hawker and Kanyaka prospect areas before the end of the September 2022 quarter.
Due to the limited surface geochemical data over these areas, the aim of this systematic program will be to identify anomalous geochemical trends which can be used alongside the geophysical data to define targets for a first-pass drill program to test the potential for REE mineralisation.
Re-assaying of historic samples that were never originally assayed for REEs is also being investigated, the company reports.
Auroch completed desktop studies of the Arden Project utilising high-resolution airborne magnetics flown in 2018, all historic surface geochemistry data and the mapped geology to identify two priority areas for potential REE mineralisation, the Hawker REE prospect and the Kanyaka Copper-REE prospect.
Auroch notes that at both prospects the interpreted airborne magnetics shows potential for covered mafic diapirs and diapiric brecciation, which are considered to be an important source and potential host rock of REE mineralisation, respectively.
Furthermore, assays from rock-chip samples taken in 2018 from historic trenches and shallow workings identified anomalous REE mineralisation at the Kanyaka Copper-REE prospect, with values up to 1330.59ppm, 556.54ppm and 388.99ppm Total Rare Earth Oxides (TREO).
“The exploration upside of the Arden Project continues to grow”
Commenting on the works, Auroch Managing Director Aidan Platel said: “The exploration upside of the Arden Project continues to grow. In addition to the potential for significant base-metals mineralisation, in particularly zinc and copper, we have now recognised the project’s potential to host significant REE mineralisation.
The high-resolution aeromagnetic data has given us a great base to work from, and the relatively high TREO values from our historic rock chips at Kanyaka have further highlighted the REE potential, not to mention the fact that we’re only 25km from known REE mineralisation at Taruga’s Morgan’s Creek.
Focussing on these two priority areas, we will now move towards a soil-sampling program to better define targets for the first pass drilling of what still remains a very underexplored area.”
The Hawker prospect is located only 25km west of Taruga Minerals’ (ASX:TAR) Morgan’s Creek REE-Cu Prospect where Taruga have identified shallow Ionic Adsorption Clay (IAC) REE mineralisation in a similar geological setting.
The Kanyaka Cu-REE Prospect is defined by a number of historic copper oxide workings located north of the town of Quorn.
Extended suite rock-chip sampling of historic open trenches and shallow workings was conducted in 2018 as part of the Company’s base-metals exploration. The company’s recent review of these assays identified several samples of anomalous REE mineralisation, including one sample as high as 1330.59ppm TREO (values >300ppm TREO are considered ‘significant’).
Images: Auroch Minerals Limited
