Nimy Resources (ASX: NIM) has had its confidence in the Block 3 East gallium discovery in Western Australia boosted by a maiden resource grade of more than 100 grams per tonne for the critical metal.
The company estimates the initial inferred JORC gallium resource at 7.23 million tonnes and, in addition to the significant gallium grades, identified 3,890t of contained total rare earth oxides (TREO) at 538 parts per million.
The company believes Block 3 East has significant upside, with exploration targets of up to 26Mt at 100g/t gallium and 100Mt at 810ppm TREO, with both remaining open along strike and at depth from the mineral resource estimate.
Major Expansion Potential
Located approximately 350 kilometres northeast of Perth in the state’s midwest, the initial resource model for Block 3 East only encompasses an area of 0.4 sq km.
Nimy is currently carrying out surface soil sampling and an airborne magnetic survey across an extended grid covering approximately 30 sq km, in an effort to expand its comprehension of the full size of the resource.
Specialist consultant SRK has already identified five additional gallium and one new rare earth oxide exploration target in the project area.
Using geophysical and geochemical data, Nimy’s team has also outlined several additional areas that have potential gallium and rare earth elements mineralisation—most notably, the Masson, Thompson, and Vera’s prospects.
‘Exceptional Gallium Discovey’
“This resource confirms that Block 3 is an exceptional gallium discovery with grades that are among the highest in the world, and the economic outlook is further boosted by the significant rare earths resource” managing director Luke Hampson said.
“Given the recent developments in the Australian and US governments’ co-operative approach to ensuring supply of critical minerals, we are very well placed to unlock the substantial value of this exceptional discovery."
Nimy, which signed a non-binding agreement with critical minerals group M2i Global in September for supply of gallium product into the US, is currently undertaking metallurgical testing and processing development studies aimed at producing a low cost, high-grade gallium and rare earth concentrate.
Preliminary metallurgical work undertaken by researchers at Curtin University on the company’s behalf has provided promising outcomes.
“These encouraging results will empower our project team to create a robust metallurgical flow sheet and pursue a larger scale test work program and further studies,” technical advisor Tony Tang said.
