Auric flags strong REE at Chalice West

Assays from recent drilling at Auric Mining’s Chalice West Project in WA have picked up highly anomalous total rare earth oxide (TREO) with a 7 kilometre long magnetic feature.

REE analyses have been returned for 95 bottom- of-hole (BOH) composite samples and 178 1m interval regolith samples for 19 holes, and also flagged one 17m interval from 4m below surface at 1,699 ppm TREO.

The bottom-of-hole geochemistry data indicates that anomalous TREO concentrations coincide with magnetite-biotite-rich granite along a ~7km long NW- trending magnetic feature.

For a very underexplored area like Chalice West, these results from a first pass drilling program have boosted Auric Mining’s (ASX:AWJ) confidence about the prospectivity of the project, especially considering there are more results to come, with a further 108 BOH samples and 193 1m interval samples pending.

REEs in the clay horizon

Notably, the REE are in clays not granite, which is a boost for the potential economics of the project, since hard rock miners have to drill, blast and dig deep to hit an orebody, whereas clay hosted deposits are closer to the surface and easy to dig.

The company will undertake metallurgical tests and petrographic studies to determine the leachability and nature of the high-grade REE mineralisation in the clay horizon.

AWJ will also conduct an aeromagnetic and radiometric survey over the magnetic features to obtain a detailed outline of the anomalies identified in the Geological Survey of WA (GSWA) dataset.

And if metallurgical results are favourable, the plan is to further drill test the REE clays.

Auric Mining — Pic: Cross-section of the western part of the drilling line at 6471150N

Gold results also worth a mention

The company has also received results from gold drilling at Chalice West, which defined near continuous gold anomalism in basalt to a maximum of 168ppb.

AWJ says this represents a new focus for further exploration 1.2km south of any previous drilling results carried out by Resolute Mining (ASX:RSG) in 1993.

“Furthermore, the anomalism on the southern traverse shows a clear association with two mafic units and is more pervasive than in traverses to the north,” AWJ said.

“It provides considerable encouragement to close drill spacing in that area and potentially to generate deeper drill targets.”

Gold anomalism has now been defined over 5km strike length, and the forward plan is to continue to target gold mineralisation potentially analogous with the Chalice gold deposit.

This article was developed in collaboration with Auric Mining, 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.