Godolphin nabs strategic land parcel enveloping flagship Narraburra REE project and continues to unlock project development potential

Trungley exploration licence granted to Godolphin Resources for three years
Strategic tenement surrounds the company’s highly prospective Narraburra REE project in NSW
Historical exploration data being mapped to identify targets
Phase 2 metallurgy achieves 80-95% magnetic REE recoveries

Special Report: Godolphin Resources has secured a sizeable chunk of land around its flagship Narraburra REE project in NSW in search of mineralisation extensions to the current JORC 2012compliant resource.

The move comes off the back of the explorer seizing a 51% controlling interest in the project late last month and recently being granted the nearby Cambrai exploration license.

Narraburra has a 94.9Mt @ 739ppm TREO resource which includes a higher-grade zone of 20Mt @ 1,079ppm TREO, including valuable magnetic REEs such as neodymium and praseodymium (NdPr).

Trungley added to Narraburra REE package

Godolphin Resources’ (ASX:GRL) EL9628 exploration license – named Trungley – is huge in comparison to Narraburra, adding a further 110km2 surrounding the main project area.

GRL says Trungley is a valuable addition to its REE and critical minerals portfolio and plays host to four different Devonian-aged granites and Cenozoic sediments.

It shares geology with the main A-type Narraburra granite in the southern portion of the tenure and has the potential to host further clay-style REE mineralisation.

The EL9628 license, enveloping Godolphin’s flagship Narraburra REE project. Pic: Supplied (GRL)

GRL managing director Jeneta Owens says Trungley adds to the company’s already comprehensive tenement package near Temora in central west NSW`.

“The tenement covers some very important ground and, most notably, it means that Godolphin has now secured potential extensions of REE mineralisation to the north of the company’s Narraburra REE project,” Owens says.

“Now that the tenement has been fully granted, the field team will get busy with reviewing historical data and initial work will focus primarily on potential REE mineralisation associated with the A-type granites.

“We look forward to providing updates as the exploration programs evolve.”

ANSTO leach test shows high grade recoveries

Extraction results from ANSTO leach testing of samples from Narraburra have achieved between 80-95% magnetic rare earth recoveries using samples from the project – a sizeable increase from 75%, which were the last batch of results received from this test work program.

These key magnetic REEs include neodymium, praseodymium, terbium and dysprosium (Nd, Pr, Tb, Dy) recovering up to 96% Nd, 92% Pr, 91% Tb and 93% Dy – which gives further encouragement to the project’s potential.

There was also a significant increase of REE extraction at 50°C for all clay-rich samples compared to 30°C announced previously.

Owens says the team is delighted by the latest leach test results from ANSTO.

“They support the initial high-grade leach results from last year based on individual 1m samples, and now we have achieved exceptional +90% recoveries on composite samples that resemble actual mining intervals,” she says.

“These results demonstrate the excellent leachability of the important magnet minerals from the Narraburra deposit that are an essential component to all EV motors and used widely across the world.”

What’s next?

Previous exploration across the Trungley tenement was limited but focused on mineralisation in weathered granites and mineral sands in paleochannels.

With that in mind, GRL has identified REE targets from historical rock chip sampling. The company is in the process of compiling that data to be assessed and compared to known REE mineralisation in the area where some soil sampling has been undertaken.

The existing dataset will be evaluated to determine if this data can be re-processed, or if new data will be acquired to assist in advancing REE exploration of the tenement.

This article was developed in collaboration with Godolphin Resources, 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.