White Cliff chases WA rare earths with geophysical play

ASX-listed explorer White Cliff Minerals has commenced a high-resolution magnetic and radiometric survey at its Yinnetharra lithium and rare earths project about 100km north-east of the Gascoyne Junction in WA.

Previous rock chip sampling at the site has returned grades of up to 924 parts per million total rare earth oxides, or “TREO” and the in-progress geophysical campaign is aimed at refining and generating new targets at the site.

Other notable rare earth hits at the project include the acquisition of 13 samples going over 780ppm TREO along with several occurrences of anomalous thorium.

Whilst demand for rare earths is surging due to the commodity's ongoing use in the production of electric vehicles, thorium is commonly used to make ceramics, camera lenses, heat-resistant paints and perhaps most famously as a nuclear fuel.

White Cliff says its geochemical and rock chip data observed at the project so far will be fed into the interpretation and target definition phase of the magnetic and radiometric programs and will utilise the expertise of two notable players in the exploration space.

The geophysical survey component of its work at Yinnetharra will be helmed by Southern Geoscience Consultants and be conducted across the entirety of the assets 574 square kilometre landholding.

In addition, the company has engaged notable mapping geologist Allan Ronk to evaluate its existing GIS mapping dataset in order to move the process along.

Yinnetharra is positioned about 85km south of the $462 million capped Hastings Technology Metals’ renowned Yangibana project that holds a JORC-compliant resource of 21 million tonnes at 1.17 per cent TREO.

According to Hastings, Yangibana’s primary rare earths mineralisation is held within narrow outcropping ironstone dykes. The company says the rare-earth infused dykes are moderately radioactive and magnetically anomalous.

Given the characteristics of the zone’s rare earths mineralisation White Cliff Minerals plans to vector in on the ground’s mineralisation with a combined magnetic and radiometric survey program.

White Cliff Minerals Technical Director, Ed Mead said:"The high resolution magnetic and radiometric survey at 50 metre spaced lines, in conjunction with Allan Ronk’s review of our existing GIS datasets for aster and multi spectral data, high resolution photography and other acquired datasets, will greatly assist with the next phases of on ground work.”

About a year ago the company completed a helicopter-supported field trip at Yinnetharra to review 15 sites earmarked as potential lithium and rare earth hotspots by satellite imagery and historical sampling programs which yielded strong cerium hits of up to 332 ppm.

According to Geoscience Australia, cerium is amongst the most abundant rare earths elements.

The project’s northern tenements are also prospective for lithium and offers a host of pegmatites that are set to be tested.

Legacy exploration at Yinnetharra led to the discovery of several lithium-bearing pegmatites that could potentially be the focus of future campaigns.

The company recently sold off its non-core Gardener Dome rare earths project in WA to ASX-listed explorer Black Cat Syndicate and could plough some of the $200,000 received into the campaign. White Cliff expects the sale to be completed by mid-December.

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