Krakatoa Resources (ASX:KTA) is sending selected aircore (AC) samples to a laboratory for leach testwork after discovering a new clay-hosted rare earth element (REE) province at the Rand Project in New South Wales.
The company reports the testwork is intended to determine the samples’ viability for the extraction of the key REEs such as neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium, and terbium.
Additionally, Krakatoa says it will conduct further interpretive work on the AC results before planning further shallow drilling.
A first-pass AC drilling program was completed on new high-priority REE targets at the project, which defined anomalous REEs hosted in clay-weathered granites at shallow depths.
Krakota reports the following key intersections from the program: hole RAC004 with 8m @ 1,056 parts per million (ppm) total rare earth oxide (TREO) within 42m @ 483ppm TREO from surface; hole RAC015 with 12m @ 875ppm TREO from 50m; and hole RAC017 with 4m @ 1,209ppm TREO from 48m.
The company says the drilling led to the clay-hosted REE discovery at Rand, supported by numerous ‘significant’ intersections from clay-weather saprolites developed on the Ryan and Jindera Granites.
“In addition to these encouraging results, the Ryan and Jindera Granites have sizeable footprints that we look forward to investigating further”
Commenting on these updates, Krakatoa Resources Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mark Major says: “Our Rand Project continues to deliver significant outcomes for the company, and these assay results from first pass, wide-spaced AC drilling are highly encouraging and proved that these selective Granite types have the potential to host shallow clay REE deposits.
In addition to these encouraging results, the Ryan and Jindera Granites have sizeable footprints that we look forward to investigating further.”
The company wholly owns the Rand Project, which covers a 580km-square area in the Central Lachlan Fold Belt.
Krakatoa Resources is an ASX-listed exploration company with a number of projects focused on gold, REEs, and speciality metal projects. The company’s portfolio of assets include the Belgravia Porphyry, Turon Gold, Rand Gold, Mt Celre Rare Earth, King Tamba Speciality Metals, Mac Well projects.
Images: Krakatoa Resources Ltd
