Cygnus Metals discovers high-grade rare earths at Bencubbin project
St George holds hope for the projects which lie in an area that has delivered significant lithium results for other explorers.
Cygnus Metals (ASX: CY5) has revealed a significant clay-hosted rare earths discovery in Western Australia today, with initial assays from drilling at the Bencubbin project showing the discovery contains a significant percentage of high-value, potential magnet creation rare earths.
The company stated that the discovery has “large-scale potential” given that the strong anomaly had already been outlined over 2.3km.
The assays revealed significant and consistent high-grade rare earth intersections over the 2.3km, with results including 19m at 1,541ppm total rare earth oxide (TREO), including 11m at 1,960ppm TREO and 4m at 2,356ppm TREO and 25m at 1,117ppm TREO, including 9m at 1,608ppm TREO.
“Importantly, up to 28% of the mineralisation is the high-value type used to make magnets for electric motors,” Cygnus stated.
“This includes neodymium and praseodymium, dysprosium and terbium.”
“The mineralisation is hosted in a well-developed clay profile up to 49m thick over a rare earth element enriched granite, indicating significant scale potential.”
The assays stem from six air core holes with results pending for a further 28 holes.
Major players in the area
Cygnus noted that majors, including Rio Tinto (ASX: RIO) and IGO (ASX: IGO), are actively exploring for rare earths in the same area, with IGO’s Lake Campion project established specifically to target clay-hosted rare earths.
“This is a highly promising discovery of the most valuable clay-hosted rare earths mineralisation. While it is early days, the potential in terms of the value of the mineralisation and the scale is undoubtedly significant,” Cygnus managing director David Southam said.
“We already have assays pending on another 28 holes and the mineralisation is open along strike. While we await these assays, we are working on a follow-up plan to unlock and understand the potential value of this discovery.”
“The small Australian-focussed exploration team have been quietly working away at these highly prospective projects while our focus has and continues to be lithium in James Bay, Quebec. We are about to finalise the maiden resource for our Pontax lithium project, giving us strong news flow over coming weeks and months.”
Cygnus has former Mincor Resources (ASX: MCR) chief David Southam as managing director and Bellevue Gold (ASX: BGL) founding managing director Steve Parsons as a substantial shareholder with a 7.6% stake.
The company is set to publish the maiden JORC resource on its Pontax lithium project in Canada’s James Bay in late July to early August.