ABx Group Limited (ASX: ABX) has commenced its third drilling campaign to test a 6.5km mineralised corridor connecting the company’s Deep Leads and Rubble Mound rare earth discoveries, located in northern Tasmania.
The 70-hole campaign is anticipated to take six weeks to complete, with assay results expected to be received in batches from early November and into early CY2023.
This third drilling campaign will consist of approximately 70 holes of aircore RC drilling and push-tube coring totalling 800 m.
The campaign is designed to follow-up on the previous campaigns of first-pass exploratory drilling that discovered a continuation of the REE mineralisation for the entire distance between Deep Leads and Rubble Mound Rare Earth discoveries.
That exploratory drilling confirmed a 6.5km contiguous mineralised corridor 2 which remains open for possible extensions to the east, north and south that all warrant further drill testing, as is planned in this third drilling campaign.
The previous drilling campaign results highlighted clay-hosted REE that occur within a shallow channel structure that increased the prospect size by 27% to 5.1 sq. km and demonstrated the potential for the mineralised zone to deliver thick intersections.
Assay results and ABx’s knowledge of this REE mineralisation have also seen the project expand significantly, increasing the combined prospective area to be drill tested to more than 30 sq. km.
Follow-up drilling will primarily focus on widening the mineralised corridor by drilling holes that step out from the known northwest trending channel.
The campaign will also test in-fill targets between Deep Leads and Rubble Mound, as well as inspect a new style of REE mineralisation encountered in river flats to the south of the project.
In addition, ABx anticipates finalising a maiden JORC Resource Estimation based on drilling results to date in the next few weeks with results from the upcoming drilling campaign to feed into an expanded resource estimate anticipated in 1Q CY2023.
ABx is highly excited to get the drill bit turning again to further test this mineralised corridor and increase the potential for further mineralisation by extending the channel,” MD and CEO Dr Mark Cooksey said.
“This third campaign has all the hallmarks of a major expansion of the mineralised area with results anticipated to continue early into the new year and I look forward to keeping the market abreast of our progress.”