Magnum Mining and Exploration (ASX:MGU) has secured 14 new exploration permits around its confirmed ionic adsorption clay rare earth discovery at Piracanjuba in Brazil.
The Brazilian National Mining Agency has published the grant of new exploration permits in Goiás under Diário Oficial da União, with research permits granted for three-year terms from publication.
The newly granted exploration tenure comprises 14 new permit areas around the Piracanjuba North and Piracanjuba South targets, subject to final process-number reconciliation before release.
The total Piracanjuba landholding now spans 429.49km². The new permits provide additional exploration optionality to test possible lateral extensions, regolith profiles, and geophysical trends adjacent to the discovery corridor.
The tenure expansion is strategically located around the confirmed Piracanjuba ionic adsorption clay rare earth discovery within Magnum’s Azimuth REE Project.
Magnum Mining has already confirmed ionic adsorption clay-hosted rare earth mineralisation at Piracanjuba and is advancing a systematic 10,000m auger drilling campaign at the Piracanjuba North Target.
As previously reported by Mining.com.au, the program has already completed 161 auger holes for 1,607m across 7.4km² at Piracanjuba, which is on track for an exploration target by September and a JORC Resource by November.
“The grant of these new permits is an important strategic step in consolidating Magnum’s land position around Piracanjuba, where we have already confirmed IAC-hosted REE mineralisation and are now advancing a systematic 10,000m auger drilling campaign at the Piracanjuba North Target,” Managing Director Antonio Vitor Junior says.
“The significance of Piracanjuba North is its potential to host a world-class-scale REE system, supported by the underlying 85km² geophysical anomaly, and the fact that all initial auger holes intersected and terminated in REE mineralisation.”
Technical results and exploration upside
Desorption recoveries of up to 75% total rare earth oxides and 94% medium and heavy rare earth oxides have shown the potential to recover high-value strategic rare earth elements under mild leaching conditions.
Exceptional first assays of up to 3,971 parts per million (ppm) total rare earth oxides and 1,360ppm medium and heavy rare earth oxides were recorded, with an excellent ‘high-grade’ medium and heavy rare earth oxide distribution from holes drilled.
All 13 first-pass auger holes intersected near-surface rare earth mineralisation and terminated in rare earth mineralisation.
The scale of the broader 85km² geophysical footprint present at Piracanjuba North, validated with first-pass drill hole spacing of up to 5km, supports the potential for a laterally extensive ore body.
“With an 810-hole drilling programme in full swing, Magnum is entering a period of high news flow, where we will commence the regular reporting of assay and desorption result batches,” Vitor Junior adds.
Write to JC Villarba at Mining.com.au
Images: Magnum Mining and Exploration
