Desert Metals has proved its Innouendy project in WA hosts significant rare earth elements, after shallow drilling returned thick, high-grade intersections of clay-hosted mineralisation.

Assays from the first 1,128m of its recent 12,745m drill program returned notable results such as 8m grading 2,734 parts per million (ppm) total rare earth oxide (TREO) from a down-hole depth of 24m in Hole 80 and 17m at 1,347ppm TREO from 28m including 8m at 2,085ppm TREO) in Hole 130.

Significantly for Desert Metals (ASX:DM1), the limited results received to date indicate relatively continuous mineralisation – an indication of a potentially significant mineralised system and a positive sign for future resource estimates.

Assays are pending for the remaining 11,617m of the drill program, which has primarily focused on following up earlier reconnaissance drilling REE intersections of up to 20m grading 2,139ppm TREO from 16m within near-surface saprolitic clays.

“This is an outstanding result for the company to confirm a significant rare earth discovery at such an early stage in the exploration programs at the Innouendy project,” managing director Rob Stuart.

Well-timed

The results come as investor sentiment continues to build on REE stocks as the market awakens to the reality that a lot of the critical metals are needed for the construction of electric vehicle motors and wind turbines.

What it means for Desert Metals is the certainty that the market will be looking closely at the results of this and any future exploration – and will likely reward any further successes.

The company certainly thinks that it is on the right track given that it is already planning to follow-up on the recent exploration in order to test the extent of the discovery, which appears to be pretty extensive.

It previously noted that step out drilling traverses across 20km of strike length have intersected both thick clays and large volumes of mafic and ultramafic rock though lab analysis will be required to determine whether these units host significant mineralisation.

 

 

 

This article was developed in collaboration with Desert Metals, 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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