Locksley Resources (ASX:LKY) has its sights set on additional exploration across its recently acquired Mojave Rare Earth Element (REE) Project in California to better understand some recent ‘very high-grade’ rare earth results.
Speaking to Mining.com.au on the sidelines of the International Mining and Resources Conference (IMARC) in Sydney last week, Locksley Head Geologist David Ward says the company’s planned drilling is designed to uncover the continuity of ‘high-grade’ rare earths up to 12.1%.
Mining.com.au was an official media partner of IMARC.
“We have been over and done our first surface sampling and mapping that has defined an 860m-long structural horizon, which has got some high-grade and narrow vein rare earths in it, running up to 12.1% total rare earths, just shy of 3.2% neodymium-praseodymium (NdPr), which is an extremely high-grade material.
We have mapped the strike of it, we have our drilling applications in place and just awaiting drilling approval so we can drill a couple of holes into this dipping El Camp lode.”
Ward says the first holes will be drilled to less than a hundred metres, but this should give the company an idea of the downhole continuity of the rare earths in the area in the space of just a few weeks.
“We are hoping to show that there is some down-plunge continuity. We can see the structure, and we can see the dip of the structure at surface, so all we want to do is drill a couple of holes to see if it has enough width and continuity in grade so we can see if that double-digit rare earth grade continues.”
Ward tells this news service if fruitful, exploration could see a potential expansion of its tenement holding in California.
“At first pass, these high-grade, narrow rare earth veins are a bit new. We are usually looking for carbonatite intrusions, which are large bodies of rare earths, so this is a new geological model for these things.
However, now that we have seen it and we know what these things are doing, we can actually go looking for these things on existing claims.”
“now that we have seen it and we know what these things are doing, we can actually go looking for these things on existing claims”
The Head Geologist adds that the company is open to the idea of a potential partnership and/or joint venture (JV) in the future, although he notes the company is comfortable pursuing its exploration work alone heading into 2024.
“Given we already have $3.2 million in cash at the bank and a very small market cap, we will probably go it alone at the moment. What that gives us is the maximum upside available to the existing shareholders.
Next year, I can see us having done some work on the rare earth project, drilling some of these holes and defining the down-plunge extent of what we already know. Plus doing some follow-up drilling on high-grade hits at Tottenham, where we have been getting 1.5% copper downhole, so there is plenty of upside there as well.”
Locksley Resources acquired the ‘highly prospective’ Mojave Project in August this year. A total of 171 rock chip samples from the project area have been assayed for the full suite of elements by American Analytical Services (AAS) and returned grades of up to 9.49% total rare earth oxide (TREO).
The company is a copper, gold, and base metals explorer with assets scattered across Australia. The company also explores for rare earth elements (REE) in the US. It had $3.544 million cash and cash equivalents at hand as of 30 September 2023, according to its latest quarterly report.
Write to Adam Drought at Mining.com.au
Images: Locksley Resources
