Indiana has started aircore drilling to better understand the Minos rare earth element prospect within its Central Gawler Craton project in South Australia.

The two-phase program totalling 5,300m will infill and extend at 250m line spacing, a 5km long strike of clay-hosted REE mineralisation within the 10km of strike that has already been identified along the Lake Labyrinth Shear Zone northwest of Minos.

Previous drilling at the LLSZ has already returned high-grade REE mineralisation with significant thickness topping up at 24m at 4,021 parts per million (ppm) total rare earth oxides (TREO) from a down-hole depth of 24m (LLAC012).

The 2,800m Phase 1 drilling will also include an initial test across strike for repetitions of REE mineralisation 1km to the south and up to 2km north of the existing Minos REE trend with Indiana Resources (ASX:IDA) expecting to complete operations by the middle of this month.

It expects the 2,500m Phase 2 to start in the March quarter of 2023.

“I am very excited with this program that follows up the outstanding results that we received earlier this year,” chief executive officer Richard Maish said.

“It is clear that we have confirmed a large-scale, high-grade REE discovery within our Central Gawler Project and this program has been designed to expand the extent of our discovery and provide additional material for further metallurgical test work.“

Minos rare earths potential

While the source of REEs at Minos is not well understood at this stage, the Gawler Craton has received significant attention in recent times for its potential to host ionic adsorption-style REEs, which are renowned for being easily mined.

Indiana currently believes that REE mineralisation in the Gawler Craton occurs in the weathered profile (regolith) associated with the alkaline Hiltaba Granite and gneissic basement rocks which are enriched in REE and are prevalent in the extensive northern portion of the Indiana’s tenure.

 

 

 

This article was developed in collaboration with Indiana 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.

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