Magnum Mining and Exploration (ASX:MGU) has completed its 10,000m auger drilling program at the Piracanjuba North Project in Brazil.
The database now exceeds 10,000m, with 10,314m completed across 867 collars as at 15 September.
Drilling concentrated on the Plateau zone, which spans 7,137m of drilling across 576 collars and represents the primary focus for infill and resource definition work.
The completion marks the transition from broad-scale target testing into focused resource definition work at the rare earth element (REE) project within the 100%-owned Azimuth Project in Goiás.
Executive Chairman Antonio Vitor says completing the 10,000m drilling milestone changes the focus at Piracanjuba from ‘proving scale’ to “defining the best parts of the system”.
“Our drilling is now being directed into the Plateau for tighter-spaced geological control, while independent resource, NORM [naturally occurring radioactive material], and metallurgical workstreams advance in parallel,” Vitor says.
The company plans a further 2,000m diamond drilling phase, which will prioritise infill across the most prospective Plateau domains.
A high-recovery, water-free diamond drilling configuration is being deployed for targeted infill and geological control to improve sample recovery and enable efficient advancement through key weathering horizons.
Magnum has engaged three independent consultants to progress technical workstreams in parallel with Plateau infill drilling.
In the meantime, the company says it is continuing to monitor laboratory turnaround times, which have recently lengthened to approximately double the typical processing period, delaying assay results.
Magnum aims to complete the JORC mineral resource estimate (MRE) by the end of November 2026, noting the potential for this timetable to extend by up to two weeks should laboratory turnaround times remain elevated.
The Plateau zone represents a single domain of 32.5km² within the broader Piracanjuba North Project. The shift in drilling focus reflects the move from district-scale screening to tighter-spaced drilling over areas considered most relevant to continuity, domain definition, and future mineral resource estimation.
Near-term activities include completion of Plateau-focused infill drilling, integration of pending laboratory results, finalisation of the NORM characterisation program, independent geological modelling, and ore characterisation and preliminary metallurgical testwork.
The company also intends to progress to a Scoping Study, subject to the mineral resource and supporting technical data.
Magnum Mining and Exploration is an explorer and developer focused on critical minerals, REEs, base metals, and iron ore across the Americas.
Write to Paula Fabe at Mining.com.au
Images: Magnum Mining and Exploration
