West Cobar Metals (ASX:WC1) is accelerating its aircore drilling plans at its Salazar Critical Minerals Project in Western Australia, now targeting a Q4 2026 start and focusing on higher-grade scandium zones within the Newmont deposit.
The company is currently progressing approvals for the closer-spaced 100m by 50m drilling program to define mineralisation geometry and support a potential mineral resource estimate update.
This campaign follows encouraging atmospheric-leach extraction testwork achieving scandium recoveries of up to 39%, building on earlier testwork that demonstrated recoveries of up to 81%.
Managing Director Matt Szwedzicki says the company is ‘excited’ to progress towards Salazar’s first scandium-focused program.
“The timing for accelerating efforts to develop a scandium project could not be better, with the recently announced US$400 million US Government’s Department of War’s Office of Strategic Capital’s conditional debt funding to Sunrise Energy Metals [ASX:SRL] that demonstrates the strategic priority placed on secure scandium supply chains,” Szwedzicki says.
The Newmont deposit hosts an inferred resource of 15 million tonnes at 153 parts per million (ppm) scandium oxide (Sc2O3) within the saprolite clay zone. Previously reported intercepts include 13m @ 318 ppm Sc2O3 from 9m, including 3m @ 649 ppm Sc2O3 from 10m.
Located 120km northeast of Esperance, Salazar hosts a combination of scandium, rare earth elements, titanium, and gallium.
Besides drilling, West Cobar plans to advance metallurgical testwork and flowsheets, as well as maintain engagement on potential US funding and offtake pathways.
“We are driving hard on the scandium front and expect these activities to generate a strong pipeline of newsflow over the coming months,” Szwedzicki says.
West Cobar Metals is a mineral explorer and developer focused on critical minerals, gold, and base metals, with projects in Western Australia and New South Wales.
Write to Paula Fabe at Mining.com.au
Images: Mining.com.au
