Highlights:
Tundulu REE Project
Tundulu is formed of several hills in a ring around a central vent called Nathace Hill where the majority of the historic surface sampling and drilling was undertaken. The predominant geology at Nathace Hill is REE apatite hosting carbonatites and feldspathic breccia and comprises a large inner agglomerate vent. Mineral rich carbonatite also occurs at Tundulu Hill east of Nathace and Makhanga Hill west of Nathace and is previously unexplored and prospective for REEs and niobium mineralisation.
REE mineralisation remains open towards southern and western directions of Nathace Hill and potentially extends beyond the boundaries of the previously established mineralised area over Tundulu Hill. Initial indications of mineralisation appear to be high in valuable MREEs and low measurable radioactive uranium
(U) and thorium (Th). This compares favourably to Lynas Rare Earths’ Mount Weld Central Lanthanide Deposit where Th and U concentrations in the ore are approximately 660 ppm and 25 ppm respectively.1
A total of 63 metallurgical samples were collected from 37 sample locations along high-grade historic trench (TUTR10) at Tundulu.
Sampling results returned up to a high of 3.35% TREO and 27.5% P2O5 (average of 0.85% TREO and 8.26% P2O5) over the sampled 83m length of trench TUTR10. The average HREO component of the TREO basket was 13%, with high-value heavy rare earth elements Dy & Tb contributing 2.5%. Undetectable to very low levels of deleterious elements including mercury, lead and cadmium in the P-rich rocks confirms the exceptional grade quality of the phosphate at Tundulu.
The sampling is representative of the mineralised Bastnaesite and Apatite carbonatite rock types exposed within the trench. Select samples are being collected to form a 150kg composite to be sent to for metallurgical analysis.
5 bioavailability composite samples were also taken across various historical trenches at Tundulu, targeting phosphate rich rocks. ‘Bioavailability’ is used for analysis on phosphorous rock sources to determine the solubility of phosphate in soils. This analysis is useful in determining whether a particular phosphate rock type is suitable for direct fertiliser applications where the phosphate would be applied directly to the soil for uptake.
The analysis has been undertaken at Nagrom metallurgical and analytical laboratory in Kelmscott, Western Australia under standard atmospheric conditions using 2% citric acid. The majority of samples showed excellent phosphorus (P) solubility of over 40%, with one returning solubility of 81%. The exceptional quality of the phosphate-rich rocks at Tundulu is manifested by their undetectable to very low levels of deleterious elements including mercury, lead and cadmium.
The metallurgical test work will aim to evaluate historical studies undertaken at Tundulu and assess the findings from a 2017 metallurgical report, completed by the previous operators of the licence. The test work will initially focus on validating the beneficiation results achieved by the previous laboratory.
Conducting test work at this early stage enables the Company to ascertain the preliminary viability of producing two product streams: namely a REE commercially saleable concentrate and a mixed phosphate concentrate containing rare earths.
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