Chilwa Minerals (ASX:CHW) targets completion of six infill holes at the Nakombe niobium and rare earth elements (REE) discovery in Malawi by year-end, after laboratory assays confirm niobium across 270m of strike.
Assays from MPYDD009 returned 57m @ 0.315% niobium pentoxide (Nb2O5) from surface, including 14m @ 0.426% Nb2O5 from 43m. The full 385.4m hole averaged 0.192% Nb2O5.
Southern hole MPYDD015 returned 22m @ 0.243% Nb2O5 from 349.5m, within a 202.5m section averaging 0.161% Nb2O5 to end of hole at 401.5m.
The final 12.5m graded 0.238% Nb2O5 with 1,855 parts per million (ppm) total rare earth oxides (TREO), of which yttrium oxide made up 24.5%.
MPYDD009 averaged 1,415ppm TREO, and its upper 57m carried 174ppm tantalum and 61ppm gallium.
The laboratory results supersede earlier portable XRF figures, which understated grade. MPYDD009 rose from 0.17% to 0.192% Nb2O5 and the MPYDD015 headline interval from 0.228% to 0.243% Nb2O5.
Intervals use a 0.2% cut-off and are downhole widths, with true widths unknown.
Mineralisation remains open at depth, to the east and to the north. Three diamond rigs are drilling, and work on the Nakombe North target resumes in 2027.
Chilwa plans a maiden mineral resource estimate for May–June 2027. Its exploration target for Nakombe South sits at 34–51 million tonnes @ 0.14–0.22% Nb2O5.
QEMSCAN mineral analysis on composites is underway to define niobium and rare earth deportment.
Managing Director Cadell Buss says the results support the resource push.
“With every hole we drill, the scale of this system continues to grow, and these laboratory results are a key input as we work towards a maiden Mineral Resource Estimate,” Buss adds.
Chilwa Minerals is an Australian explorer advancing a portfolio of heavy mineral sands and critical minerals assets in Malawi.
Write to JC Villarba at Mining.com.au
Images: Chilwa Minerals
