Blaze Minerals identifies gallium and rubidium discovery at Ntungamo project in Uganda

Blaze Minerals (ASX: BLZ) has confirmed a new critical mineral discovery for gallium and rubidium with first-pass assays for three diamond drill holes at its Ntungamo project in Uganda.

The company drilled five holes for a total of 1,548 metres targeting two pegmatite bodies and intersected quartz granitoid, phyllite, quartz-dominant pegmatite, large-grained coarse pegmatite and a crystalline mudstone sequence.

Gallium was present in all rock types, while rubidium  reportedly had the highest average grade within the large-grained coarse pegmatite that initial observations suggested hosted most of the mineralisation.

Best assays

Best results from the first three holes were 6 metres at 27 parts per million gallium oxide and 679ppm rubidium oxide from 202m and 9m at 27ppm gallium oxide and 800ppm rubidium oxide from 258m.

Other highlights included 6m at 26ppm gallium oxide and 507ppm rubidium oxide from 86m including 1m at 760ppm rubidium oxide, 11m at 20ppm gallium oxide and 555ppm rubidium oxide from 162m including 4m at 824ppm rubidium oxide and 17m at 21ppm gallium oxide and 481ppm rubidium oxide from 226m, including 1m at 39ppm gallium oxide and 1m at 809ppm rubidium oxide.

Gallium is primarily used in the production of semiconductors, particularly in devices such as light-emitting diodes and solar panels.

Scandium content

Blaze also considers the presence of rare earth element scandium in the assays as potentially important to the project, conducting tests on a nominal 1m sample for every 5m of core within this lithology.

Best scandium results were 1m at 43ppm scandium oxide from 179m, 2m at 36ppm scandium oxide from 201m and 1m at 33ppm scandium oxide from 71m.

Scandium’s primary application is as an alloying agent in aluminium and in aerospace components.

The company did not deem the assays for neodymium and praseodymium as commercially significant.

‘Exciting first-pass results’

“These are exciting first-pass results and validate our critical minerals technical thesis for the Ntungamo project,” Blaze director Mathew Walker said.

“We look forward to a further review of the results and making a decision on the next phase of exploration activity.”

The company is still awaiting assay results from the two remaining drill holes.