Cazaly Resources Limited (ASX: CAZ) has received anomalous assay results from initial REE exploration carried out over 50km strike, at its Ashburton Project, located in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.
The project area covers 2,450 sq. km and hosts major regional structures considered to be prospective for large mineralised systems.
Analytical results were returned from the rock chip heli-sampling programme completed at the Ashburton Project. Twenty-six samples were collected from the sedimentary units of the Capricorn group over a 50km strike, adjacent to the Blair Fault, a deep seated regional scale structure.
Seven samples returned anomalous TREO above 0.5% with two samples above 1% TREO. Elevated REE include: 118ppm dysprosium; 179ppm gadolinium; 619ppm yttrium; 2,070ppm lanthanum; 1,472ppm neodymium; and 431ppm praseodymium.
In addition phosphorous results were also elevated to 4,600ppm. These results are higher than those samples previously reported by Fortescue Metals Group (FMG) from within the Ashburton project area.
The anomalous REE results are extremely encouraging and confirm the extensive 50km regional scale mineralised REE trend at the Ashburton,” Managing Director Tara French said.
“The REE mineral enrichment could be related to hydrothermal alteration or accumulation of heavy metals within sedimentary layers of the Capricorn Group. Further work is required to determine the nature of the mineralisation.”
Historically, limited low-level exploration was conducted by Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (FMG) across the dolomites within the Capricorn Group with 11 rock chip samples collected by FMG and analysed for gold, base metals, and REE.
The results indicate the samples are enriched in REE (notably La, Ce, and Pr). Six of these samples are located along the Blair Fault in the southern part of Cazaly’s Ashburton Project area. The samples have elevated REE including: 2,840ppm cerium; 86.5ppm dysprosium; 1370ppm lanthanum; 314ppm praseodymium; and 1,650ppm phosphorus. Neodymium was not reported.
Cazaly recently completed a helicopter supported rock chip sampling programme to determine the prospectivity of the 50km long thorium anomaly and follow up on the previous work conducted by FMG along strike to the south-east.