What we look like when we see high-grade rare earth results. Pic: Getty Images
Mining
Your standout small cap resources stocks for Wednesday, December 11, 2024.
Rare earth grades as high as 2.8% total rare earth oxides would be significant in a hard rock deposit, let alone a Brazilian clay where resources are close to surface and mining is expected to be relatively simple.
That’s why investors are excited by a hit of 14m at 9994ppm TREO at Caladão, 20% of it high-value magnet rare earths oxides, from 1m including a 1m stretch 9m deep at 28321ppm TREO (27% MREO) in hole CLD-AUG-093.
That’s up to 7606ppm MREO, or 0.76% magnet rare earths, the kind valued for use in permanent magnets key to EV motors, wind turbines, electronics, aviation and defence tech.
Another section at 12m contained 9171ppm TREO, but 41% of that MREO.
Located in the Lithium Valley region of Brazil’s Minas Gerais state, other highlights at Caladão included hits of 2.62m at 4067ppm TREO (26% MREO) from 21m and 8.6m at 3432ppm TREO (26% MREO) from 36.55m in deeper diamond holes.
They’re the best results reported from a 2600m phase 1 drilling program, where AXL is hoping to outline a ‘world class’ deposit.
“The exceptionally high grade results continue from our Caladao project, surpassing our expectations. Since our IPO in late July we have demonstrated that REE mineralisation extends over a significant area, with impressive thickness of the mineralised clay profile,” MD Dr Fernanda Tallarico said.
“The previously reported channel results and the overall distribution of the mineralised intercepts show a remarkable lateral continuity, which is essential for building resource volume.
“From the first auger hole drilled in 2023, we have consistently seen strong ore grades with high-grade results returned from every batch in this program that commenced after IPO. These record-breaking assays represent a significant milestone for the company and reinforce the tremendous potential of the Caladão project.”
Mineralised intercepts at Area A, the location of the drilling so far, have been found over an area of 30km2. That leaves 90% of the project still to explore. The clay horizon at the project includes abundant kaolinite, a mineral AXL says is known for its ability to adsorb rare earths elements. That opens the door to the prospect of cheap ionic clay style processing.
“These results are significantly high for a clay-hosted REE project. The continuity of high-grade mineralisation at shallow depths and along strike highlights the scalability of this potential deposit, which we are confident that further drilling will continue to demonstrate,” Tallarico said.
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Pilbara Minerals (ASX:PLS) has fallen off the top of the table of the ASX’s most shorted stocks, and spodumene prices have been plodding along in the US$850/t range for several weeks.
Are we finally seeing sentiment turn for lithium stocks?
European Metals is a familiar story for lithium fans this year, down over 70% over the past 12 months, but the past week has seen a couple of sharp moves off a 13c, 52-week low.
EMH shares were up close to 20% this morning, giving it a £15 million ($30m) market cap, with sold-off lithium equities now starting to see some occasional buying interest.
A DFS on its Cinovec lithium project in Czechia is expected in mid-2025, after key changes to its project plan including the decision to co-locate its process plant with the Prunerov EPR1 power station.
EPR1 was the largest coal plant in Czechia before it was decommissioned, and sits 4km west of the site laid out for the Cinovec tailings facility, saving the company a 60km trip from a previously proposed plant location in Dukla.
“Our ongoing work to update the DFS is focused on reducing costs, increasing production tonnages and volumes, and further enhancing the processing flowsheet,” EMH exec chair Keith Coughlan said last month.
“The confirmation of 100% flotation in the FECAB circuit will decrease both opex and capex and improve lithium recovery and concentrate quality, further reducing the environmental impacts of the Cinovec Project.
“With these advancements, we are confident that Cinovec will play a key role in Europe’s lithium supply and contribute to the green energy transition.”
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Horseshoe Metals has for years held the historic Horseshoe Lights copper and gold project, 60km west of the old DeGrussa copper gold mine and 35km east of Westgold Resources’ Fortnum gold mine.
It produced 316,000oz of gold and 55,000t of copper metal in two past lives and still has 128,000t of copper in the ground at 1% Cu along with 36,000oz of gold.
There’s been precious little news of late, but HOR did roll out a string of new copper and gold targets late last month, after expanding the project with the grant of a new exploration licence E52/4372.
“Horseshoe is pleased to report the project area at HSL has recently been expanded with the grant of E52/4372 (57km2 ) to a total of 340km2,” the explorer said in an announcement to the ASX in November.
“Prospects added by the tenement grant include Fiddlers (Cu), Fiddlers East and Fiddlers South (Au). Existing regional copper prospects include Tritan and Tethys.”
Previous rock chip results at the latter picked up grades of up to 1480ppm copper, while gold results from rock chips at Fiddlers East and Fiddlers South clocked up to 7.1g/t gold.
Significant gold only intercepts came in as high as 2m at 22.6g/t from 68m, 2m at 8g/t from 47m and 2m at 19.8g/t from 110m, with site evaluation of gold targets to be undertaken in December.
HOR says it is reviewing regional targets also within 200km of Horseshoe Lights, with further consolidation on the cards.
A rebrand as a minerals processing tech company has given MTM a new lease on life, with the junior up close to 400% over the past six months to an $82m market cap.
Its latest news is the approval of its shares to trade on the over the counter market (OTCQB) in the United States, opening access to North American capital and liquidity.
The company has been advancing a technology known as flash joule heating with Rice University in Texas, and has been moving strongly since the announcement last week of restrictions on Chinese exports to the US of gallium, germanium and antimony.
The latter two are among the metals MTM is looking to produce from scrap in a partnership with Indium Corporation leveraging its FJH tech.
MTM MD Michael Walshe said:
“This milestone reflects our dedication to broadening MTM’s global reach and investor base. The OTCQB listing not only enhances accessibility for US investors but also underscores our dedication to advancing sustainable technologies like FJH.
“These innovations are crucial to onshoring critical material supply chains, enabling the efficient extraction of metals from unconventional waste streams.
“By fostering greater national autonomy and sovereignty in critical supply chains, this aligns with US priorities, especially in light of China’s recent export ban on gallium and germanium.
“These strategic metals are indispensable for key technologies, including semiconductors and military defence systems.
“Listing on the OTCQB will greatly improve access for US-based investors to trade MTM shares, aligning with the ongoing progress of our FJH development program.
“Additionally, we anticipate that dual trading on the OTCQB will help diversify our shareholder base and broaden exposure to a wider pool of investors.”
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Rounding out this one with another clay rare earth explorer, Critica released some nice drilling results from its Jupiter discovery in WA last month, picking up 67m at 3074ppm TREO in a hole that ended in mineralisation.
Radioactive by-products thorium and uranium have also been consistently low among the hits from its primary Brothers REE project.
Formerly the owner of the short-lived Riley iron ore mine in Tasmania, the company has refocused on rare earths under new MD Philippa Leggat after selling Riley to zero in on the strategic commodity, which has a measure of sponsorship from the Aussie government.
A mineral resource is in the works, chairman Tim Lindley told investors at last month’s AGM.
At Stockhead, we tell it like it is. While Axel REE and MTM Critical Metals are Stockhead advertisers they did not sponsor this article.
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