• A 50-hole aircore drilling program is underway at Fraser South rare earths project
  • Follow up drilling at the Bozwood prospect where recent drilling hit up to 4120ppm Total Rare Earth Oxides
  • Regional drilling will explore the broader project area for new zones of REE

 

A 50-hole Stage 2 drilling campaign targeting new clay rare earths zones at the Fraser South project comes hot on the heels of high-grade hits from the successful maiden program in May.

Last month, Metal Hawk (ASX:MHK) purchased IGO’s 51% JV interest of the Fraser South project in the Goldfields-Esperance region, an area garnering significant attention in recent times as explorers continue to search for the next rare earths hub outside China.

Compared to hard rock deposits, Clay hosted deposits are easier and cheaper to explore, drill and mine.

Processing is ostensibly cheaper. This can more than offset the far lower grades – ~ 0.1% versus hard rock mines which can be between 2-10%.

They also often contain a higher proportion of magnet rare earths, and crucially the heavy rare earths; the type critical for use in wind turbines and electric vehicles.

Metal Hawk (ASX:MHK)
Fraser South Project location. Pic via Metal Hawk

 

Maiden drilling in June defines REE mineralisation

In May, MHK completed a maiden drilling program at Fraser South, which identified clay-hosted REE mineralisation and confirmed the regional prospectivity.

The results in June returned high grades of up to 4120ppm Total Rare Earth Element Oxides (TREO) from 4m composite sampling, including:

  • 26m at 1526ppm TREO from 16m to EOH, including 8m at 3101ppm TREO from 32m;
  • 13m at 1202ppm TREO from 36m, including 5m at 2298ppm TREO from 44m;
  • 8m at 1087ppm TREO from 36m and 10m at 1781ppm TREO from 52m; and
  • 19m at 816ppm TREO from 8m, including 3m at 2840ppm TREO from 24m to EOH.

 

Exploration kicks off 

“Following the excellent high grade REE results from our maiden drilling campaign at Fraser South, we are very excited to commence the Stage-2 drilling program,” MHK’s managing director Will Belbin says.

“We will be drilling some closer spaced holes at Bozwood and we’ll be testing new target areas for additional zones of REE mineralisation.

MHK’s plan is also to test for early-stage conductors for nickel-copper-PGE mineralisation along the interpreted southern structural extension of the western margin of the Albany-Fraser belt.

“Additionally, we look forward to further exploring the magnetic high and western margin of the belt for prospective nickel-bearing mafic and ultramafic rocks,” Belbin says.

 

 

 

This article was developed in collaboration with Metal Hawk, 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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