Riversgold sets its sights on REE near Mt Weld mine

With interest in rare earths remaining strong, it should come as no surprise that companies such as Riversgold will jump on the right opportunity when it comes along.

And that is exactly what the company has done, signing a farm-in and joint venture agreement with London-listed Corcel to earn up to 70% in their Mt Weld REE project just 1.4km west northwest of Lynas’ Mt Weld REO mine near Laverton, Western Australia.

Riversgold (ASX:RGL), which recently picked up $6.1m through a capital raising and finalised the sale of its non-core Alaskan gold assets, is hitting the ground running with chief executive officer Julian Ford saying that it aims to be drilling at Mt Weld this quarter.

The company will pay Corcel a $30,000 non-refundable payment on execution of the agreement and will sole fund $500,000 of expenditure during the First Earning Period to earn 50% of the project (tenement P34/4489).

It can then sole fund a further $1m of expenditure during the Second Earning Period to earn an additional 20% in Mt Weld.

Mt Weld REE project

The Mt Weld project covers 171 hectares and straddles the mine access road to Lynas Rare Earths’ (ASX:LYC) Mt Weld Mine.

While the tenement is covered mostly by recently transported sediments obscuring the underlying geology, four discrete undrilled magnetic features have been identified.

These are interpreted to potentially represent carbonatite intrusives associated with the Mt Weld carbonatite intrusive complex 1.5km to the east.

This is intriguing given that Lynas’ Mt Weld mine currently has an Ore Reserve of 18.6Mt grading 8.2% total rare earth oxides for 1.53Mt of contained REO while producing 5,880t of valuable neodymium and praseodymium magnet REE in the 2022 financial year.

A $500m capacity expansion project is currently underway that seeks to increase concentrate feedstock production up to 12,000 tonnes per annum of NdPr products in 2024.

This article was developed in collaboration with Riversgold, 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.