Ausmon Resources (ASX: AOA) has been granted the EPM 29075 Turkey Hill tenement by the Queensland Government for five years following the company’s application in July 2024 to explore for rare earths.
The tenement covers an area of 320 sq. km located within the Drummond Basin, 165 km south-west of MacKay and 34 km north west of Moranbah accessible via the Peak Downs Highway then via all- weather unsealed roads.
The Turkey Hill project is targeting a surficial layer of clays and iron-manganese-rich pisolites, and nodules forming part of a sequence of a tropically weathered sedimentary basin of Tertiary age. They are poorly consolidated and predominantly clay-rich, with minor amounts of fine sand and gravel.
The basin overlies and is adjacent to alkali granitic rocks which have historically produced significant tin and tungsten and are enriched in rare earth elements. The granites are the possible source of the rare earths.
The REE mineralisation, if any, is likely concentrated in the weathered profile where it has dissolved from its primary mineral form, such as monazite, and then ionically bonded (adsorbed) or colloidally bonded on to fine particles of aluminosilicate clays, including kaolinite.
The planned initial work programme will involve:
- Compilation of all historic exploration
- Roadside mapping of regolith and geology
- Surficial scanning of rocks and soils with the company’s Vanta pXRF
- Communication with local council(s)
- Surface shallow Aircore traverses along road verges.
