RareX poised to drill ‘company maker’ Cummins Range this quarter, more copper-gold hits at Trundle joint venture
RareX directors are also participating in the placement by collectively subscribing for $90,000-worth of shares.
Amid rising rare earth prices, RareX (ASX: REE) is raring to go with exploration to begin at its flagship Cummins Range in March, which has been previously described as a “company maker” asset.
The exploration program will follow a resource upgrade for the project, which is due later this quarter based on last year’s drilling.
Metallurgical results are anticipated “shortly after” the resource.
Planning for the March program is underway and will target higher grade mineralisation identified during last year’s drilling program.
Increasing rare earth prices are continuing with neodymium currently attracting US$86.5 per kilogram, while praseodymium is commanding US$60.9/kg.
Maiden drilling at Cummins Range
By late last month, RareX had received all assays from maiden infill and extensional drilling at Cummins Range in Western Australia’s Kimberley region.
The program aimed to build on the current inferred resource of 13 million tonnes at 1.13% total rare earth oxides with 22.1% neodymium praseodymium.
Drilling at RareX last year produced what RareX called “outstanding” results.
Highlight assays were 62m at 2.6% TREO and 0.5% niobium pentoxide including 25m at 4.4% TREO and 0.6% niobium pentoxide, and an ultra-high zone of 6m at 9.4% TREO and 1.5% niobium pentoxide.
Trundle gold joint venture
Over at RareX’s Trundle gold joint venture in New South Wales’ Lachlan Fold Belt, there has been continued drilling success.
RareX holds a 35% interest in the project with TSXV-listed Kincora Copper owning 65%.
Kincora has been undertaking drilling with two rigs operating on the project’s Trundle Park prospect.
Assays are now at hand from the first 102m of a total of 332m drilled in TRDD011.
These revealed 74m at 0.4% copper and 0.37 grams per tonne gold from surface, including 42m at 0.64% copper and 0.58g/t gold from 32m, including 14m at 1.69% copper and 1.39g/t gold from 58m.
A higher grade 4m interval was struck from 68m grading 4.98% copper and 3.36g/t gold.
Assays were also received for the initial 220m of 581m drilled at TRDD012.
This intercepted 29m at 0.1% copper and 0.18g/t gold from 191m, including 2m at 0.87% copper and 0.05g/t gold from 195m, and 1m at 0.09% copper and 1.17g/t gold from 204m.
Technical committee chair John Holliday and senior vice president of exploration Peter Leaman said the results indicate these zones may be “vectors towards the intrusive source of the skarn, which may be strong porphyry mineralisation, similar to what drives skarn mineralisation at famous porphyry systems at Cadia, Grasberg and OK Tedi”.
The two rig program is designed to expand the scale of the near surface mineralisation by stepping out along strike.