Lindian Resources has continued its impressive run of rare earth assay results at the company’s Kangankunde project in Malawi including a massive 300m hit at 2.31 per cent total rare earth oxides, or “TREO” from surface.
The explorer says all holes completed so far have started and ended in mineralisation with the 300m section including 66m at 2.37 per cent TREO from surface, 50m going 2.3 per cent TREO from 77m, 32m grading 2.18 per cent TREO from 137m and a whopping 124m recording 2.53 per cent TREO from 176m to the end of the hole.
A second hole recorded a 97m intercept at 2.84 per cent TREO from surface including 24m going 3.43 per cent TREO from 10m in addition to 41m grading an impressive 3.5 per cent TREO from 56m.
The explorer is currently undertaking phase 1 of its 12,500m resource definition drilling program including 10,000m of RC drilling and a further 2500m of diamond drilling to test mineralisation to a depth of 300m. The 44-hole campaign includes two RC rigs and one diamond drill rig.
The company has completed a total of 4568m of RC drilling and 632m of core drilling with the latest assays from the first 1213m drilled.
Additional assay highlights show 272m grading 2.06 per cent TREO from surface including a massive 157m section at 2.54 per cent TREO from 115m to the end of the hole. The final hole also impressed with a 184m hit going 2.49 per cent TREO from surface including 146m at 2.741 per cent from surface.
Lindian Resources Chief Executive Officer, Alistair Stephens said: “Last year I labelled Kangankunde ‘the King’ and the assays we are reporting certainly underpin my confidence that we are in the early stages of rapidly defining what will be one of the world’s most significant non-radioactive rare earths deposits in terms of both scale and grade.”
Kangankunde is considered one of the world’s largest rare earth operations outside China and hosts an outdated resource of 2.53 million tonnes grading 4.24 per cent rare earths oxide and containing 107,000 tonnes of rare earths oxide when using a cut-off grade of 3.5 per cent. It is a carbonatite-hosted system with mineralisation exposed at the surface and open at depth.
Earlier this month the company recorded an initial set of outstanding results from the first two holes drilled at the site that included a 1m section recording 11.8 per cent TREO from 13m with a second 1m section going 11.1 per cent TREO from 12m.
The ratio of neodymium and praseodymium, or “NdPr” in the total concentrate at the project is about 19 per cent and a mining licence has already been secured for the site. The ratio of NdPr in the first set of assays came in at an impressive 21 per cent of the total content whilst the latest results showed an NdPr ratio of around 20 per cent. The company says all assays show very low levels of radioactive materials uranium and thorium.
With more assays pending and phase 1 drilling re-commencing to start the new year, the market will be keen to see if Lindian can continue its impressive run of results at Kangankunde.
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By Matt Birney
