Taruga Minerals intercepts REE mineralisation in drilling at Morgans Creek
RAB and aircore drilling are now underway at the Shute prospect, within Mt Craig, which is prospective for REE.
Junior explorer Taruga Minerals (ASX: TAR) has completed a rotary air blast (RAB) drilling campaign at the Morgans Creek clay-hosted rare earth elements (REE) prospect within the Mt Craig project in South Australia.
The campaign comprised 59 holes for a total 2,156 metres, targeting strike extensions of the Yednalue Quartzite, which is known from previous exploration to contain significant magnetic REE (neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium and terbium) in the weathering profile.
Yednalue contains layers of reactive sediments including sandstone, siltstone and quartzite, which have undergone intense oxidation and alteration.
Taruga said it appears to contain “ideal qualities” of scavenging metals including REEs, lithium, cobalt, nickel and zinc, while the upper weathered portions are being targeted for ionic adsorption clay (IAC)-style REEs.
The RAB campaign commenced earlier this month and was co-funded under the South Australian Government’s Accelerated Discovery Initiative (ADI).
Drilling results
Drilling intercepted the Yednalue Quartzite in multiple sections, confirming the continuity of the prospective unit north of the Hydrothermal Hill prospect over more than 1.5 kilometres.
Yednalue has been mapped at Morgans Creek for at least 5km of strike, including 2.5km to the south of Hydrothermal Hill, which remains largely untested.
Taruga also identified several sub-parallel zones of interest within the target unit which contain a deep weathering profile and abundant clay minerals.
These, along with other mapped exposures of Yednalue Quartzite throughout the Mt Craig project, will be subject to follow-up reconnaissance exploration and drill targeting.
Clay-hosted mineralisation
In 2021, Taruga completed two rounds of reconnaissance reverse circulation drilling at Morgans Creek, focused primarily on copper, but defining clay-hosted REE mineralisation in several holes at Hydrothermal Hill.
The mineralisation contained a high concentration of high-value magnetic REEs, with significant intercepts recorded in sporadic drilling over an area of approximately 6km by 2km.
Weak acid leach test work conducted earlier this year indicated the mineralisation could have a high proportion of readily-soluble REE, and may be amenable to a low-cost simplistic metallurgical flowsheet.
Taruga said it was apparent that REE mineralisation is not constrained to the Yednalue Quartzite.
The company is now investigating other units in the stratigraphic sequence using soil geochemistry, magnetics and radiometrics geophysics.
Shute drilling
Taruga has commenced drilling at the newly-defined Shute prospect, which sits within the Western Plains area of the Mt Craig project.
Shute is one of several prospects along strike and is defined by a circular magnetic feature approximately 500m in diameter at the junction of three interpreted major structures.
The prospect sits offset from exposed mafic intrusions within the Worrumba diapir to the east where the underlying geology is interpreted to be reactive sedimentary rocks.
Taruga said RAB and aircore drilling would be trialled to characterise the anomaly, obtain geochemical information and determine depth to basement.
Shute is believed to be prospective for clay-hosted REEs while the basement rocks may also be prospective for copper.