RareX clears path for Khaleesi niobium exploration with key land access agreements

The signing of two critical agreements during the September quarter has cleared the way for  RareX (ASX: REE) to commence work programs at tenements within the historic Khaleesi niobium project in Western Australia.

A land access and heritage agreement was signed in July with the site’s native title holders, allowing RareX to progress exploration at Khaleesi in exchange for the issue of one million RareX shares.

RareX signed a second site access agreement with AngloGold Ashanti, which is expected to enable efficient travel by RareX to the Khaleesi licence area via the access road used by AngloGold to travel to its Tropicana gold mine.

Khaleesi re-assays

RareX re-assayed 1,470 pulps from 120 drill holes across Khaleesi during the quarter, revealing elevated rare earths in many holes within the regolith profile (including clays) and in the fresh underlying intrusives.

The results are believed to support the geological models and have been used to refine drill targets for exploration in 2025.

Drilling will focus on basement intrusives, including prospective carbonatite targets defined in geophysics work.

New opportunity

RareX identified a new opportunity at the Mt Mansbridge heavy rare earths deposit in September, following a desktop review of historical exploration data.

Initial reviews confirmed outcropping xenotime mineralisation with historical pit samples showing up to 6% yttrium (a proxy element for heavy rare earths) at the Sigma prospect.

Sparse drilling returned a best result of 4m at 0.48% total rare earth oxides including 1m at 1.06%, indicating significant exploration potential.

Cummins Range pause

Metallurgy and engineering at RareX’s Cummins Range project were placed on hold during the quarter pending a recovery in metals prices.

Meanwhile, a phosphate metallurgical program produced product samples that are being tested with the offtake market in Australia and south-east Asia.

Alternative phosphate technology is being tested to create a potential reduction in start-up costs for Cummins Range and early phosphate product generation is being explored as a standalone project consistent with a scoping study released in August 2023.

Supply chain

The Cummins Range supply chain to Wyndham Port remains de-risked, with RareX securing agreements related to infrastructure sharing, port land options and freight.

Discussions on a native title heritage agreement are progressing following the appointment of new representatives for the traditional owners and the negotiating sub-committee.

Cummins Range remains Australia’s largest undeveloped rare earths project and a significant phosphate deposit.

Solid portfolio

Managing director James Durrant said the quarter focused on creating a solid portfolio to support exploration programs in the coming year.

“Our exploration portfolio has been systematically de-risked through geological deep-dives, re-assaying, and agreements with native title holders and landholders, helping to elevate Mt Mansbridge to a priority asset,” he said.

“At Cummins Range, we have begun refining a staged approach to a stand-alone phosphate start-up option in light of poor rare earth metal prices.”

“We have seen some marginal price improvements and remain confident in the rare earth outlook and the need for alternative and secure supply chains from reliable sources.”