American Rare Earths (ASX:ARR) has completed its 38-hole, 5,726m drilling program at its Halleck Creek rare earths project in Albany County, Wyoming, USA, and says it is closer to defining a substantial maiden JORC resource.
The company drilled to a depth of 150m. This was a 50% increase over and above the 100m depth drilled for the maiden drill campaign and was not included in the exploration targets announced last year. The previous JORC compliant Exploration Target estimate outlined between 1.01 and 1.27 Billion Tonnes of Rare Earth mineralised rocks with TREO grades ranging between 2,245 ppm and 2,807 ppm.
American Rare Earths said the drilling confirms the Rare Earth Elements (REE) containing geological structure is significantly larger than previously thought. Geological data shows significant consistent REE mineralisation across the observed samples, with the massive deposit remaining open at depth and likely continuing east into the company’s adjoining Bluegrass prospect.
Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Chris Gibbs said: “We have a major deposit here, the size scale and consistency of the resource we are observing is similar to large-scale, long-life copper / gold porphyry mines which are common throughout the Western United States.
The exploration target of over a billion tonnes is now being authenticated based on this drilling program. The drill results together with the positive metallurgical studies amplify the significant value of Halleck Creek’s potential as a key domestic US rare earth supplier.”
The Company is awaiting assay results to finalise a maiden JORC resource estimate, which it plans on releasing in the first quarter of 2023.
