Taruga Minerals defines rare earth drill targets at Morgans Creek
Ionic adsorption clay REE can generally be processed using “a simple and low-cost flowsheet”.
Junior explorer Taruga Minerals (ASX: TAR) has defined a series of clay-hosted rare earth targets for a planned rotary airblast drilling campaign at the Morgans Creek prospect within its wholly-owned Mt Craig project in South Australia.
The targets include mineralised extensions of Hydrothermal Hill, where 5 kilometres of prospective strike has now been identified, and the newly-defined Shute prospect which sits within the large and flat Western Plains area of the project.
The targets were determined from the results of systematic exploration over the past eight months including airborne magnetics and radiometrics; hyperspectral satellite alteration mapping; auger and soil geochemistry; re-interpretation of drilling data; and surface geological mapping.
Recent intercepts
In firming up the targets, Taruga used intercepts from its 2021 program, which returned 6m at 1,210 parts per million total rare earth oxides (TREO) from 9m; 22m at 1,050ppm TREO from 27m, including 10m at 1,940ppm TREO; 31m at 487ppm TREO from 21m, including 3m at 1,996ppm TREO; 3m at 1,715ppm TREO from 39m, including 2m at 2,456ppm TREO; and 13m at 505ppm TREO from 31m, including 3.15m at 1172ppm TREO from 31m.
Other results were 7m at 560ppm TREO from 2m, including 1m at 1,124ppm TREO; 5m at 779ppm TREO from 28m, including 2m at 1,547ppm TREO; 4m at 953ppm TREO from 1m; and 17m at 410ppm TREO from surface, including 3m at 945ppm TREO.
Soil geochemistry and auger profiles have been completed over the areas and the data also contributed to finalisation of the targets.
REE mineralisation
Morgans Creek has, to-date, been the focus of copper exploration. However, significant REE mineralisation has recently been defined over an area approximately 6km long by 2km wide, and open in all directions.
Preliminary testwork has shown average REE recoveries of 72% of TREO and 75% of the high value magnetics rare earth element oxides (MREO) using a weak acid solution, which indicates the potential use of a simple and low-cost metallurgical flow sheet.
MREO includes neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium and terbium.
Taruga said pad preparation at Morgans Creek had been completed and drilling would commence imminently.
Government funding
Taruga was recently awarded $650,000 in funding for REE and sediment-hosted copper exploration at Mt Craig, under the South Australian Government’s accelerated discovery initiative (ADI).
The ADI is aimed at fast-tracking new discoveries for key minerals in regional and frontier provinces using innovative technologies and concepts.