Krakatoa Resources (ASX:KTA) reports it has delivered a maiden Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) of 101 million tonnes @ 840ppm TREO at the Tower Rare Earth deposit in Western Australia.
The company says the Tower deposit was the first prospect drilled of many prospective clay hosted rare earth element (REE) targets at its flagship Mt Clere Project, and this maiden MRE has been defined only 7 months following the discovery at Tower, which is highlighted by thick zones of near-surface mineralisation.
Krakatoa says 40% of the MRE has been classified in an indicated category, and the existing resource has the potential to substantially grow in size and scale as the MRE only incorporates 20% of the identified Exploration Target drilled to date.
It also states Tower has an estimated exploration target of 57 to 481 million tonnes at 530ppm to 1,050ppm TREO, and following the completion of the MRE, the company will no commerce key development work streams at the project and initiate discussions with potential end-users, offtake partners and industry groups for potential funding, development and downstream opportunities.
Krakatoa Resources CEO Mark Major said this is an outstanding result and a game changer for Krakatoa.
“It has only been 7 months since we made the initial discovery at Tower and now the team has delivered a robust maiden resource and we still have a significant exploration target to chase.
“It has only been 7 months since we made the initial discovery at Tower and now the team has delivered a robust maiden resource and we still have a significant exploration target to chase”
This puts us in a solid position to continue with our systematic exploration strategy and also commence strategic discussions with end users and industry groups related to potential development, funding, offtake arrangements and downstream processing opportunities.
We will now continue to explore the Tower area further and look to increase the resource confidence as well as the size, plus continue our regional exploration focus.
In parallel, we will advance the ongoing technical and metallurgical studies and look forward to commence baseline environmental and social studies with the vision to move toward production as quickly as possible.
We believe Tower and the wider area presents a unique opportunity to develop a project of size and quality with key attributes highlighted by free-digging dirt, low strip ratio, extensive mineralised thickness and in this area that doesn’t compete with agriculture for land use.”
Krakatoa reports the MRE was conducted over the central and southern Tower area located within exploration licences EL09/2357, and this area was identified to represent in-situ weathered regolith plateaus over alkaline gneiss and granites showing defined radiometric anomalism located in the upper catchment of ‘highly’ anomalous stream geochemical surveys.
This area, as well as the Tower west area have established station tracks which allowed the company to undertake this drilling quickly and efficiently, while other target areas are less accessible at this time, and the area of drilling covered by the MRE is 5.4km-square which represents less than 20% of the current exploration target identified to be prospective for REE mineralisation.
The MRE only includes clays and saprolite regolith types, and surface hardcap and basement saprock material has been excluded as no processing alternatives have been tested for this material, and the processing of the saprolite is understood and consistent with the company’s knowledge of other IAC and clay hosted deposits, especially those in southern China, Myanmar and Africa.
In total, the MRE is based on 109 vertical aircore (AC) holes over the central and south areas of the Tower project, in total 139 drillholes for 3,848m of drilling have been completed with 30 drillholes at Tower West not included in the MRE, and the core area of the Tower prospect is covered by around 200m spaced drillholes, which provides the confidence to move towards a ‘higher’ indicated status within the area.
The drill spacing is more sporadic and greater than the 200m distance over much of the Tower West and the southern extent of Tower area.
Krakatoa is awaiting the laboratory results from the recent scout reconnaissance auger drilling on the downslope terraces to the southwest of the Tower plateau and areas around the Tower West prospect to determine the extent of mineralisation within these areas and future resources drilling possibilities.
The company is awaiting the metallurgical diagnostic testwork currently being undertaken by ANSTO (Australian’s Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation), and additional and extended metallurgical testing programs will be undertaken specifically expanding on the area distribution, 1 which represents the entire MRE area will be considered as the next step once the initial testwork is known.
The outcome of the MRE has shown the company it has substantial mineral resources which can be used to move the project into economic studies.
Krakatoa Resources is a precious and critical metals producer focused on its projects including the Belgravia, Turon, Rand, Mt Clere Rare Earth, King Tamba, and Mac Well projects.
Images: Krakatoa Resources Ltd & iStock
