Basin Energy (ASX:BSN) has recommenced drilling at the Newmans rare earth discovery, located within the company’s Sybella-Barkly Rare Earth Project in North West Queensland.
The follow-up drilling campaign marks the first of three proposed drilling programs planned in H2 2026 and will test the continuity of the 3.3km mineralised corridor defined in maiden drilling.
As reported by Mining.com.au, Basin identified a 3.3km corridor of magnet rare earth element (REE) mineralisation at the Newmans prospect in late June, validating the company’s exploration model.
Basin returned its best drill result with the strongest preserved weathering profile at hole SBRC26006. From this drill hole, Basin returned 24m @ 453 parts per million (ppm) magnet rare earth oxide (MREO) within 2,247ppm total rare earth oxide (TREO) from 6m.
This drill hole consisted of 407ppm neodymium-praseodymium (NdPr) oxide within 1,832ppm light rare earth oxides (LREO) and 46ppm dysprosium-terbium (DyTb) oxide within 415ppm heavy rare earth oxides (HREO).
The result includes 9m @ 596ppm MREO within 2,774ppm TREO from 18m, consisting of 534ppm NdPr oxide within 2,222ppm LREO and 62ppm DyTb oxide within 553ppm HREO.
Basin returned mineralisation from four of the eight scout holes conducted in maiden reverse circulation drilling at the prospect, while the current campaign will target infill drilling.
Other campaigns proposed to take place in Q3 and Q4 includes drilling supported by the Queensland Government’s Collaborative Exploration Initiative.
This campaign will test phosphate-associated heavy REE prospectivity southwest of Newmans, as well as step-out drilling to test priority target areas defined by results and remote sensing data. The latter program is subject to heritage clearances.
Managing Director Pete Moorhouse says the company’s discovery at Newmans “presents excellent upside potential for Basin”.
“Our initial follow-up program is designed to test the continuity of that system,” Moorhouse notes.
“In the background, we continue to progress stakeholder engagement and program planning to enable step-out drilling from the identified mineralisation.
“We are targeting up to three drill programs between now and the end of the year, each with the potential to add significant scale to this emerging discovery.
“Additionally, we have been engaging with suitable consultants to undertake preliminary metallurgical work.”
Assay results are expected to be returned from this program in mid to late September.
Basin Energy is a critical minerals exploration company focused on rare earths and uranium discovery in North West Queensland.
Write to Maddison Elliott at Mining.com.au
Images: Basin Energy
