Red Mountain Mining identifies base metal potential at Mt Mansbridge rare earths project
Red Mountain Mining expects to reach the gold target at its Maitland South prospect in the “coming days”.
Junior explorer Red Mountain Mining (ASX: RMX) has identified an intense hydrothermal breccia system at the Boba Fett prospect, located 4 kilometres from the Déjà vu cobalt target within the Mt Mansbridge heavy rare earth elements project in Western Australia.
It is believed to be indicative of a large fluid system with the potential for sediment-hosted base metal deposits.
The system was identified following a review of soil geochemistry which also identified an associated coincident 1km lead-zinc-copper-silver anomaly which returned peak assays of 22.8 parts per million copper, 11.7ppm lead, 17ppm zinc, 0.09ppm silver, 364ppm manganese and 580ppm barium.
It sits proximal to several magnetic high features associated with the breccia system and is nearby to the Déjà vu layered peridotite intrusion, which is evidence of a magma-fluid flow via deep seated structures within the crust.
A field inspection of the area last year noted extensive outcrops of an “intensely silicified jigsaw-fit breccia”, with angular clasts of previously silicified material.
Outcropping breccias are believed to be located astride of a regionally significant brittle fault zone that effects the sedimentary rocks above the unconformity.
Follow-up exploration
Non-executive chairman Troy Flannery said the breccia system and regional structure would be followed up during this year’s field campaign.
“The similar blend of elements which is also seen at the nearby Chinook deposit (owned by Rumble Resources, ASX: RTR) and makes Boba Fett a very exciting base metals prospect,” he said.
Red Mountain will undertake detailed mapping, rock chipping and soil sampling to further define targets for drilling.
It plans to progress activities at Boba Fett in parallel with an upcoming rare earth drilling program at Mt Mansbridge.
Valuable elements
Mt Mansbridge is located in the East Kimberley region of WA, 40km from Northern Minerals’ Browns Range processing facility.
In January, Red Mountain confirmed drilling at the project had shown the presence of valuable heavy rare earth elements, including the high-priced dysprosium (5.65%) and terbium (0.97%).
Dysprosium is a key element of alloys for permanent magnets used in motors, electric vehicles and wind turbines.
In addition, the battery metals neodymium and praseodymium accounted for 12.9%, and there were small weightings of samarium, europium, gadolinium, holmium, erbium, thulium, ytterbium and lutetium.
Rare earth elements are relatively abundant in the earth’s crust, but not often found in concentrated quantities to make them viable to mine.
The search for rare earths is increasing in line with growing market demand for the important part they play in modern technology.