Power expands kaolin, rare earths landholding in South Australia after record drill hit

New licence application extends Eyre Peninsula project by 447.1km2 to 1,860km2
Historical drilling has intersected kaolin mineralisation
Planned aircore drilling for kaolin will also be tested for rare earths and other commodities

Fresh from announcing South Australia’s highest-grade clay-hosted rare earths hit, Power Minerals has expanded the footprint of its Eyre Peninsula project.

The company has been pushing hard to understand the REE potential of the project after analysis of kaolin drilling in 2022 returned very encouraging results with high levels of valuable heavy REEs (HREOs).

HREOs are used in the construction of permanent rare earths magnets used in electric vehicle motors and wind turbines.

Confidence in this clay-hosted REE play has since received a major boost with Power Minerals (ASX:PNN), noting earlier this week that its 37 hole aircore drill program aimed at following up on the Dickson Well anomaly in EL6681 had returned strong results.

Not only did all samples collected from this drilling return more than 1,000ppm total rare earth oxides (TREO), it also returned a top result of 2m at 7,305ppm TREO with 24.2% HREO.

This interval also hosts South Australia’s highest-known clay-hosted REE concentration of 1m grading 7,495ppm TREO.

Adding further interest, drilling at Yeelanna (EL6677) also returned a notable hit of 10m at 2,097ppm TREO with 8.3% HREO from 11m (PKD23-161), the first time that REE concentrations have been reported at this area.

The drilling also returned several intervals of kaolin at Dickson Well, which represents a new kaolin occurrence on the Eyre Peninsula.

Angling for more

Given the results of both its earlier exploration and most recent drill program, it should come as no surprise that the company will look to lock in the potential for mineralisation in the area surrounding its existing tenements.

It has applied for Exploration Licence Application 2023/033, which is adjacent to EL6681 and Andromeda Metals’ (ASX: ADN) kaolin deposits in the northern region of the Eyre Peninsula.

The new licence application, which covers 447.1km2 and takes the company’s total holding in the Eyre Peninsula up to 1,860km2, already contains reported kaolin mineralisation from historical drilling.

“We are pleased to expand our landholding at our Eyre Peninsula project. The new Exploration Licence Application represents a strategic addition to the project, and we are looking forward commencing on-ground exploration, including drilling, once the licence is granted,” managing director Mena Habib said.

“Our ongoing exploration at the Eyre Peninsula Project has proved to be very successful, and has validated our specialty clay strategy to seek to develop high margin, value added products for potential supply to advanced technology industries.

“We are eager to follow-up the historic kaolin mineralisation reported in the new licence area to assess its REE and halloysite potential.”

Drilling plans

Once the ELA is granted, Power plans to conduct aircore drilling to confirm and extend the known kaolin mineralisation and investigate its halloysite potential.

Additionally, all drill sample intervals will be systematically examined for REEs and basement lithology samples analysed for any possible base or precious metal potential.

This article was developed in collaboration with Power Minerals, 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.