Lindian eyes more growth for Malawian rare earths giant

Lindian Resources has revealed high-grade rare earths running up to 7.15 per cent total rare earth oxides (TREO) at its enormous Kangankunde project in the African country of Malawi following a geological mapping and sampling campaign.

The company says its most recent work shows that outcropping carbonatite prospects both north and south of the project are highly mineralised with rare earths. It says 17 of 21 samples taken from two discrete outcrops in its Malawi project area returned grades ranging from 2.07 per cent to the high 7.15 per cent TREO.

The 17 samples were collected from either ferroan carbonatite or quartz-rich carbonatites and could represent potential extensions or additions to the company’s existing mineral resource, while the remaining four samples were taken from surrounding wall rocks.

Lindian says a green monazite mineral typical of the main Kangankunde deposit is visible in many of the outcrops. Monazite is a primarily reddish-brown phosphate mineral containing rare earths and due to its variability in composition, it is considered a group of minerals.

There are five common species of monazite, with each named according to its dominant rare earth, with cerium the most common species.

Lindian Resources chief executive officer Alistair Stephens said: “These results are highly encouraging and clearly demonstrate the capability to extend mineralisation north and south of Kangankunde and that the mineralised system across our project is much broader and much deeper than currently defined by Kangankunde’s Central Carbonatite. As such, more extensive exploration including low-cost drilling of the North and South Knoll is eventually warranted.”

Management says all of the rare earths-mineralised samples showed combined neodymium and praseodymium analyses as a percentage of TREO ranging from 16.9 to 28.9 per cent and averaging 21 per cent. It says that proportion is consistent with the main Kangankunde rare earths deposit that has a JORC 2012 maiden mineral resource estimate of 261 million tonnes grading 2.19 per cent TREO.

During the recent work, eight carbonatite samples were taken from a location referred to as North Knoll and returned the grade range from 2.07 per cent to 7.15 per cent TREO, while nine samples were taken from South Knoll and yielded results of between 3.65 per cent and 6.54 per cent TREO.

North Knoll is 600m north of the central carbonatite resource area’s northern margin, while South Knoll is about 350m south of its southern margin.

Current mapping indicates that the two knolls could be either separate carbonatite intrusive bodies or possibly two apophyses off the main intrusive. Either way, given the apparently similar mineralogy and rare earths content, they could represent significant expansion potential for the main resource defined to date.

Now, Lindian says it plans to undertake additional mapping and trench sampling before proceeding with more definitive exploration programs. It will also immediately focus on updating its resource model, a detailed mine design and mine scheduling.

Meanwhile, in the mine development area, management is picking up the pace in civil works tender selection relating to access roads, bulk earthworks for plant and related infrastructure, the tailings storage facility and process water return dam, establishing its power and fuel supplies and finalising all related contracts.

Malawi, formerly known as Nyasaland, is a landlocked country in south-east Africa and has an estimated population of nearly 19.5 million people. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and north-east and Mozambique to the east, south and south-west.

Lindian has already defined a hulking rare earths resource at its Malawian project, but the new targets could prove to make it bigger again.

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