Meteoric Resources acquires tier-one Brazilian ionic clay rare earths project
Meteoric Resources plans to begin drilling its new world-class Caldeira ionic-clay hosted REE project in January.
Perth-based Meteoric Resources (ASX: MEI) has joined the rush to acquire critical mineral exploration properties in Brazil, which is home to the world’s third largest rare earth element reserves.
Gold focused Meteoric has shouldered into the REE space with the acquisition of Caldeira project in Minas Gerais.
Meteoric describes Caldeira as a world-class tier-one ionic clay hosted REE project.
Caldeira is enriched by the highly sought after heavy rare earths, including the magnet elements terbium, dysprosium, praseodymium, and neodymium. These elements make 22% of the rare-earths composition.
“These four elements will be the magnetic powerhouse of the green energy transition,” Meteoric director Dr Andrew Tunks noted.
Shallow, high-grade REE
Caldeira has been previously drilled by the Brazilian vendor with shallow auger holes returning impressive REE grades close to surface.
The vendors, Togni S/A Materials Refratarios, is a family-owned firm that has been mining the clay deposits for 112 years, initially for bricks and then for refractory products for use in furnaces. That company has a strong connection to local government and environmental bodies.
Drilling by Togni involved 1,311 shallow holes for 13,037m, with notable high-grade results comprising 10m at 8,810 parts per million total rare earth oxides (TREO), 20m at 8,924ppm TREO, 15m at 7,042ppm TREO, and 7m at 7,646ppm TREO.
These holes all intercepted REE from surface and ended in mineralisation.
A metallurgical test work program has already been completed at an accredited lab and the results are under expert review and will be released in the “coming weeks”.
Open at depth
Dr Tunks describes Caldeira as a 15km, high-grade ionic clay deposit which is completely open at depth.
“It has the potential to host large, high-grade rare earth element ionic clays and represents an enormous opportunity for Meteoric,” Dr Tunks added.
More than 85% of the holes drilled finished with grades greater than 1,000ppm TREO.
Augur holes were only completed to a maximum 20m depth, and Meteoric will move a diamond drill rig to the site January to expand exploration.
This program is designed to validate previous results.
A follow-up infill drilling campaign will be conducted over the highest-priority areas, with results to feed into a JORC resource by the end of the June quarter of next year.
A preliminary economic assessment will then be undertaken.
Fully funded after sale of gold project
Meteoric has paid Togni the initial US$200,000 for an exclusivity period until 6 April 2023 to allow due diligence.
Once the binding agreement has been signed, Meteoric will pay US$20 million in four stages — the first US$5 million on the signing, then the others on first, second, and third year anniversaries.
A 4.75% royalty will be paid to Togni, with the US$20 million purchase price to be credited against payments until the US$20 million figure has been covered.
The company says the acquisition is fully funded owing to the sale of its Juruena gold project in Brazil, with the final tranche of US$17.5 million from the sale due to be received in March.
Brazil’s government has indicated it is seeking to attract more companies to explore and develop critical minerals targets, including rare earths, as the first step to developing downstream battery processing.