McLaren Minerals (ASX:MML) has identified a 54km zircon-rich mineral sands system with potential to host rare earth elements (REE) at the Barossa Project tenements in South Australia following a technical review.
The company identified the mineralised shoreline corridor from a technical review of the asset to understand and interpret the geological data after acquiring the tenements from Iluka Resources (ASX:ILU), as reported by Mining.com.au in December 2025.
This review identified multiple mineralised centres along strike from historical drilling at the Mojave, Kalahari, and Gobi prospects, with historical modelling at Mojave outlining heavy mineral mineralisation above a 1% threshold.
The mineral assemblage comprises zircon, rutile, monazite, ilmenite, and leucoxene.
Managing Director Simon Finnis says the project expands the company’s footprint in the Eucla Basin, a “proven and productive mineral sands province”.
“While our McLaren Project, a globally significant titanium system, clearly remains our focus, this geological reinterpretation is highlighting the potential for a large, zircon-rich mineral sands opportunity with REE upside at Barossa,” Finnis says.
“Barossa appears to be a zircon-rich system and now we have confirmed that monazite is present, providing potential exposure to rare earth elements that adds further value to the mineral suite.
“Importantly, this work has identified a 54 km mineralised shoreline corridor, highlighting the potential scale of the system and the opportunity to define multiple mineralised centres along strike.
“The scale potential emerging from this early work is very encouraging and we look forward to advancing the project with further exploration during this calendar year.”
McLaren Minerals is a mineral explorer focused on developing its namesake titanium project in the Eucla Basin of Western Australia.
Write to Maddison Elliott at Mining.com.au
Images: Iluka Resources
