OD6 Metals has released a Maiden Mineral Resource estimate for its Splinter Rock rare earth project near Esperance in WA of 344Mt at 1,308ppm Total Rare Earth Oxides (TREO) at 1,000ppm cut-off grade.

This includes 149Mt at 1,423ppm TREO with 23% Magnet Rare Earth Oxides (MagREO) at the stand-out Centre Prospect, and near surface mineralisation up to 70m thick.

Four prospect areas contribute to the Mineral Resource estimate being the Centre, Scrum, Prop and Flanker prospects.

Notably, less than 5% of the targeted clay basin area was included in the estimate, with on-going exploration planned to further expand the known mineralisation.

“Our Splinter Rock Project Maiden Mineral Resource estimate of 344 million tonnes at 1,308ppm TREO is emerging as one of the largest and highest-grade clay-hosted rare earth resources in Australia,” OD6 Metals (ASX:OD6) MD Brett Hazelden said.

“This remarkable milestone has been achieved within our first year of listed life.”

 

Real potential for future resource expansion

The company says there’s ‘real and substantial potential’ for Mineral Resource expansion and classification upgrade with results from the 10,000m phase three drilling due in Q3 2023 – not to mention future planned exploration at Splinter Rock.

“With less than 5% of our clay basin area tested and phase three drilling underway, over the next 6 to 18 months there is significant potential to grow the resource base,” Hazelden said.

“Applying our geometallurgical exploration techniques (to) prioritise the ‘best of the best’ in terms of grade, MagREO content, thickness and metallurgical recovery is the backbone of the company’s focus and we look forward to both expanding the current resource and zeroing in on our high-priority areas.”

The focus of ongoing exploration will be to test the length of the prospects and determine the continuity of grade and thickness of the extensions.

Metallurgical samples will also be selected for further work at ANSTO once assays have been received.

 

 

This article was developed in collaboration with OD6 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.