• Brazilian Critical Minerals increases Ema indicated resource tonnage by 97% to 248Mt at 759ppm TREO
  • Updated starter zone resource is more than sufficient to underpin long-life scoping study and Ema project economics
  • Company finalising scoping study for release in the current quarter

 

Special Report: Brazilian Critical Minerals now has far greater confidence in the resources contained within its Ema rare earths project after nearly doubling the tonnage of material in the indicated category. 

This is contained within the starter zone where 73% of the total resource, or 248Mt grading 759 parts per million total rare earth oxides is now ranked as a higher confidence indicated resource.

It follows the incorporation of assays from Brazilian Critical Minerals’ (ASX:BCM) 2024 drilling with all holes contributing to the resource upgrade.

Importantly for the company, the starter zone resource is more than sufficient to underpin a long-life scoping study and Ema project economics.

It also facilitates more precise project design and economic evaluations during the feasibility study phase.

Mineralisation is close to surface and amenable to the widely used in-situ recovery mining methods currently supplying the majority of the world’s ionic clay rare earth production.

“This updated MRE now contains all the assay results from the 2024 drilling program. The Central starter zone which is our main focus for the scoping study now contains 73% of the tonnes within the higher confidence Indicated JORC category,” managing director Andrew Reid said.

“This result now confirms the size and scale of the Central Starter area, and the larger indicated portion of the resource gives us greater confidence as we wrap up the final items of the scoping study prior to release. 

“The Ema scoping study has had a clear objective to maximise the natural advantages that the Ema mineralisation has granted us to develop a project which requires low-capital intensity and low ongoing operational expenditure to generate a set of project financials which maintain solid cashflows at current depressed rare earth prices.”

 

Central infill drilling program in 2024. Pic: Brazilian Critical Minerals

 

Unique rare earths project

The Ema project in Brazil’s Amazonas state was first discovered by the company in May 2023 with a maiden resource defined in April 2024.

Mineralisation here is considered to be unique amongst Brazilian rare earth assets as it shares almost identical characteristics with the ionic REE deposits developed over felsic volcanic rocks in southwest China, where ~30% of the world’s REE production is mined and processed annually.

Ema covers 189km2 of felsic volcanic terrain with about 55% of the ground still unexplored, which presents the potential for more resources with further drilling.

The updated resource was undertaken by GE21 Consultaria Mineral in Brazil and incorporates the assay results from the priority 2 and 3 areas of the 244-hole drill program completed in 2024.

Overall starter zone resources now stand at 341Mt at 746ppm TREO while the global resource for Ema has been updated to 943Mt at 716ppm TREO.

BCM is finalising the scoping study, expected to be released later this quarter.

 

 

 

 

This article was developed in collaboration with Brazilian Critical 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.

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