Mount Ridley Mines (ASX: MRD) has announced a maiden inferred scandium mineral resource estimate (MRE) at its flagship Mount Ridley project near Esperance in Western Australia.
The resource sits at 367.98 million tonnes grading 57.3 parts per million scandium (87.9ppm scandium oxide) for 18,855t contained scandium metal and 28,920t contained scandium oxide, reported at a 25ppm cut-off.
395 drill holes for a total 14,329.3 metres of aircore and diamond drilling supported the estimate, which confirmed the mineralisation extends for more than 15.5 kilometres in strike from surface to 55m depth with an average width exceeding 1.5km.
The Mount Ridley project ranks amongst the world’s largest publicly-reported JORC-compliant scandium mineral resources, co-located with a globally-significant gallium resource and emerging heavy rare earths potential.
High-value applications in aerospace and defence, combined with constrained global supply, offer potential for material improvements to the project economics.
Multiple Scandium Blocks
Mount Ridley comprises multiple scandium blocks including Blocks 1A and 1B in the Central Scandium Zone and Block 2 in the Northern Scandium Zone.
The project is located on the south-eastern margin of the Yilgarn Craton and the Albany-Fraser metamorphic belt, defined along the same geological corridor within the Grass Patch Complex.
Blocks 1A and 1B contain an inferred 155.2Mt at 57.8ppm scandium (91.8ppm scandium oxide) for 8,836t contained scandium (13,551t contained scandium oxide), while Block 2 hosts an inferred 212.7Mt at 54.7ppm scandium (86.9ppm scandium oxide) for 11,648t contained scandium metal (17,866t contained scandium oxide).
Mineralisation across all blocks shows a consistent spatial association with gallium and heavy rare earth elements, hosted within distinctive mafic lithologies unique to the Mount Ridley tenure, of which more than 75% remains untested.
Both blocks have been prioritised for ongoing resource definition studies and are considered prospective for the delineation of a heavy rare earth-focused mineral resource.
Unusual Mineral Concentration
Chief executive officer Allister Caird said the delivery of a maiden resource estimate was a major step forward for the company.
“It reinforces our confidence in the geology of the Grass Patch Complex which continues to demonstrate an unusual concentration of high-value critical minerals,” he said.
“The addition of scandium to an already-established gallium and rare earth footprint further confirms our view that Mount Ridley sits within a system of potential global significance.”
Mount Ridley has commenced planning metallurgical studies to evaluate integrated recovery pathways for rare earths, with scandium and gallium behaviour assessed within the same leach solutions, and test work will also investigate beneficiation and hydrometallurgical processing options.
The company is in preliminary discussions with Australian and international research groups and processing specialists regarding the design and evaluation of end-to-end extraction and purification pathways suitable for regolith-hosted critical mineral systems.
