Lycaon Resources has secured a crucial tick of approval from Western Australia’s Aboriginal Affairs Minister Tony Buti to kick off exploration at its Stansmore project in the West Arunta region – near WA1 Resources' notable niobium discovery.
The highly-coveted mining entry permit paves the way for the company to land boots on ground, with heritage and gravity surveys planned before it plunges the drill bit for the first time into a suite of alluring magnetic anomalies.
It follows the key land agreement Lycaon stamped with the Parna Ngururrpa people late last year, giving it the green light to start exploring for niobium and rare earths in highly-prospective carbonatites in the West Arunta block in far north-eastern WA.
The Stansmore carbonatite target is centred around a 700m-long magnetic feature analogous to nearby discoveries made by WA1 and Encounter Resources. A recent reinterpretation of the magnetic data over the prospect by Perth-based Southern Geoscience Consultants has further refined the compelling magnetic feature and highlighted multiple new targets prospective for niobium and rare earth mineralisation.
Owing to its unique geological setting, the area has emerged as a potential new province for copper, niobium and rare earths, with revelations that BHP’s early rotary air-blast (RAB) drilling in 1982 showed strong evidence of intrusives and carbonate alteration. Casting an eye back over the mining giant’s historical assays reveals a melting pot of anomalous values peaking at 127 parts per million copper, 10ppm niobium, 55ppm lanthanum, 75ppm cerium and 140ppm yttrium.
Lycaon Resources technical director Tom Langley said: “The West Arunta is one of the last frontiers for major critical mineral and copper-gold (IOCG) discoveries in Australia. The identification of Niobium and Rare Earth mineralisation associated with carbonatite intrusions by WA1 Resources and Encounter Resources nearby in their first-ever drill programs signifies the extremely prospective and underexplored nature of the West Arunta.”
WA1 continues to impress market pundits, releasing another string of remarkable niobium intercepts last month from its evolving Luni prospect, including 42m running at 1.5 per cent niobium pentoxide and 93m averaging 1.3 per cent niobium pentoxide. The company is on track to release a maiden mineral resource estimate for Luni in the June quarter of this year, less than two years after plunging its first drillhole into the intriguing geophysical anomaly.
Next door to WA1, Encounter is warming up the drill rig to perforate a collection of regional-scale carbonatite targets with 20,000m of air-core (AC) drilling at its Aileron project. Previous drilling has returned 12m at 2.3 per cent niobium pentoxide at the Emily prospect and a broad 282m chipping in 0.54 per cent niobium pentoxide from the Crean prospect.
Niobium is one of a suite of commodities identified by the Australian Government as a critical mineral with unique properties that make it essential as the world transitions to a low-carbon economy.
Developments in lithium-ion battery technology utilises the critical metal to substantially reduce charge times down to six minutes while enhancing battery life – up to an astounding 20,000 charge cycles, which is more than 10 times the output of existing technologies.
With a clutch of prominent players poking around the West Arunta region, Lycaon could find itself in good company if its upcoming probe with the drill rig can turn up something similar to its counterparts. And now with a mining entry permit tucked safely away in its back pocket, it is only a matter of time before it gets the rods spinning in WA’s last frontier.
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By Helen Barling
