Viridis drilling keeps the REE discovery momentum going at Colossus

Drilling on eight new unexplored concessions has returned multiple new REE discoveries
Consistent and high-grade assays highlight “homogenous nature of the mineralisation” across the Colossus project
Viridis Mining and Minerals focused on infill drilling and metallurgical testing

Special Report: Viridis Mining and Minerals’ Colossus ionic adsorption clay-hosted rare earths project in Brazil is living up to its name with scout drilling across eight new concessions uncovering multiple new discoveries.

Colossus, in Brazil’s world-class Minas Gerais mining district, has potential to contain high grades of valuable magnetic REEs such as neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium and terbium.

More recently, initial bulk leach testwork carried out by Viridis Mining and Minerals (ASX:VMM) returned very high recoveries of MREEs averaging 62% NdPr and 56% dysprosium and terbium across the entire project.

Work is also underway with the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation to determine spot locations and sections of higher recoveries.

New REE discoveries

Scout auger drilling over eight new concessions that were previously unexplored has now uncovered numerous new prospects for deeper follow-up drilling.

Notable examples include 13m at 7632ppm total rare earth oxides from surface at Fazenda Cocal, 6m at 4852ppm TREO from 2m at Moinhos and 11m at 2199ppm TREO from surface at Sao Roque.

Maiden auger drilling at the recently acquired Cupim South Extension also returned remarkable grades such as 12m at 8221ppm TREO from 6m with elevated dysprosium and terbium – the first instance of such mineralisation the company has seen outside the Northern concessions.

Meanwhile, the second set of infill auger, reverse circulation and diamond drilling returned higher grades at Ribeirao which is expected to strengthen and bolster confidence in the maiden resource estimate for this concession.

Results from this drilling include 21m at 4198ppm TREO from 3m and 13m at 4284ppm TREO.

“The extent of consistent and high-grade results across these new concessions is remarkable and showcases the homogenous nature of the mineralisation across all the Colossus landholdings,” chief executive officer Rafael Moreno said.

“Crucially, our maiden drilling at the São Domingos mining licenses has confirmed high grades of REE mineralisation, highlighting the significant resource in our southern tenements.

“Our exploration drilling has focused on better understanding not only the high-grade zones across our vast landholdings but also uncovering valuable heavy magnetic rare earths such as terbium and dysprosium, which substantially increases the value of our basket.

“With these additional stellar results and our development strategy focused on maximising earnings in the early years of production, there is a clear opportunity to focus our exploration efforts on various existing heavy rare earth discoveries and make this a priority when finalising our mine plan for the project.”

Future work

VMM is currently focused on infill drilling and metallurgical testing for mine plan development and completion of scoping study engineering.

Greenfield exploration will also play a major part in the company’s plan to maximise revenue in the early years of production with a higher-value basket of rare earth elements.

The maiden resource estimate remains on track for release in June 2024 while the scoping study should be completed in Q3 2024.

This article was developed in collaboration with Viridis Mining and 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.