58m at 2,723ppm: Venture breaks rare earths drill hit record at Jupiter

Impressive aircore drilling results have been received from the large-scale, high-grade, Jupiter rare earth discovery
The best intersection to date – 58m at 2,723ppm TREO – has been delivered in the southern area of Jupiter
Assays from a further 42 drill holes are still pending

Special report: Aircore drilling at Venture Minerals’ Jupiter discovery has eclipsed all expectations with the whole southern zone delivering high-grade REE mineralisation.

Venture Minerals’ (ASX:VMS) Jupiter discovery is part of the wider Brothers rare earth (REE project) west of Mt Magnet, WA.

A stone’s throw from Lynas Rare Earth’s (ASX:LYC) Mt Weld concentrator as well as Iluka Resources’ (ASX:ILU) Eneabba refinery, VMS identified the large (40km2) REE target during reconnaissance drilling in November last year.

Since then, stand-out high-grade hits have been returned including the highest-grade clay hosted intersection ever in Australia.

That result – 48m at 3,025ppm total rare earth oxides (TREO) – placed the company well above its peers in terms of both grade and scale but it has now broken that record with a new 58m at 2,723ppm TREO intersection.

Four top drill intersections to date

The latest batch of assays include four of the top 10 drill intersections recorded to date, with the whole southern zone of the 40km2 target delivering broad REE mineralisation.

Other highlight intersections include:

48m at 1,661ppm TREO, including 16m at 2,469ppm TREO;
32m at 1,652ppm TREO, including 8m at 2,339 ppm TREO; and
57m at 1,981ppm TREO, including 8m at 3,108ppm TREO.

VMS says the magnetic rare earth component consistently averages 23% while uranium and thorium levels remain low through the entire Jupiter system.

‘Very robustly mineralised system’

“The most telling way to assess exploration success is to compare the before and after results,” VMS managing director Philippa Leggat says.

“When you see infill drilling delivering a sea of magenta that represents the highest grade, like we see in the southern area of Jupiter, you know you’re onto a very, robustly mineralised system.

Venture Minerals ASX VMS — Jupiter drill holes coloured by TREO grade thickness. Pic: Venture Minerals

“And, after over 200 drill holes we are still breaking records, with amazing intersections of up to 58m at 2,723ppm TREO in this latest batch of assays,” she says.

“We are excited to receive the final assay results and move forward with our metallurgy and then maiden resource estimate”.

Assays from a further 42 drill holes still pending.

This article was developed in collaboration with Venture Minerals, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.