As the name implies – ionic adsorption clay-hosted rare earths – are a mighty rare sight outside of China, so it’s no surprise Meeka has leapt straight in.

The company has acquired the giant 2,068sqkm Cascade project within Western Australia’s Albany Fraser Mobile Belt which is believed to be highly prospective for such mineralisation, generally considered to be one of the lowest-cost sources of heavy rare earths.

Needless to say, this is immensely exciting for the Meeka Gold (ASX:MEK) team, given that REEs – and heavy REEs in particular – are in high demand for the renewable energy, electric vehicles, technology, and defence sectors.

And for good reason

The Cascade project is just to the west of Mount Ridley Mines’ (ASX:MRD) namesake project where drilling has intersected significant REE over a strike length in excess of 25km, with a peak total rare earth oxide grade of 10,461ppm.

Chief executive officer Tim Davidson said while the company was originally looking for gold when it combed through its geological database for the Albany-Fraser, the data instead pointed to this province-scale rare earth opportunity.

“The extraordinary and compelling scale of this opportunity, and the very low cost of entry for the business meant we needed to act decisively and secure the ground, which we have done,” he added.

“We will now begin more detailed exploration targeting across the project with immediate effect.

“The team on the ground at Circle Valley will engage with landowners at Cascade, as we successfully did at Circle Valley, to ensure we can commence on ground exploration work unimpeded, at the appropriate time.”

Davidson added that the company remains focused on exploration drilling at its Murchison and Circle Valley gold projects as well as pre-feasibility studies for Murchison.

meeka gold
Location of the Cascade project. Pic: Supplied

Location, location, location

Besides its proximity to an emerging IAC-REE deposit, Cascade is also located just 35km from the regional centre of Esperance.

This allows it to benefit from access to infrastructure, including air and sea ports in Esperance, grid power and an existing road network across the tenure, including the South Coast Highway, which passes through the entirety of the central corridor of the Project from east to west.

Meeka also expects to benefit from exploration synergies with its Circle Valley project, which is located 45km to the northeast.

 

 

 

This article was developed in collaboration with Meeka Gold, 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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