Materials technology company ChemX Materials Ltd (ASX:CMX) has receive “outstanding” results from an initial batch of reconnaissance rare earths elements (REE) assays, which were returned from air core drilling across the company’s Eyre Peninsula tenements in South Australia.
The outstanding results highlight the prospectivity of the Eyre Peninsula tenements for ionically adsorbed REE.
The recent regional discoveries of REE surrounding the company’s tenements share very similar geology.
The remainder of samples collected from the maiden drill programme will be further assayed to provide a solid understanding of the distribution of REE through the clays.
ChemX’s Eyre Peninsula tenements cover the Kimba Kaolin-Halloysite Project and Jamieson Tank, which historically has been explored for manganese. The air core programme returned high REE results at both Kimba and Jamieson Tank.
The company’s second foundation focus, in line with targeting critical materials for electrification and decarbonisation, is the development of a High Purity Alumina (HPA) plant in Western Australia using ChemX’s in-house HiPurA process.
These assay results from our maiden drill program at both the Kimba and Jamieson Tank projects confirm the presence of REE mineralisation across our Eyre Peninsula tenements,” Managing Director, David Leavy, said.
“The next stage is to further confirm the extent of the mineralisation within the results of the samples currently in the laboratory and undergoing beneficiation in preparation for assaying.
“This will include developing an understanding of the presence and distribution of high-value magnet rare earths – neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium and terbium.
“We will also be undertaking metallurgical test work to determine the optimum process to maximise the recoverability of REEs from the host clays.”
Materials assayed were from raw, unprocessed samples consisting of kaolin clay associated with silica as quartz sand as well as mica with variable, but generally low, quantities of iron oxides.
The assays came from holes drilled at the Kelly Tank, Bunora East and Bunora South kaolin prospects as well as manganese targets at Jamieson Tank. The samples were not selected on their significance as containing high-quality kaolin intervals nor their apparent yield of clay.
Assay results from the initial batch of 129 samples indicate the presence of REEs in all samples assayed. Results have been processed to reflect the REEs as their common rare earth oxides (REOs), which are subsequently quoted as Total Rare Earth Oxides (TREOs).
The next stage of the analysis will investigate the clay-rich -45 micron fraction where the REEs are expected to be concentrated and ionically adsorbed to the surface of the kaolinite particles.
The relevance of REEs being associated with kaolin clay is that they are loosely bonded to the surface of the clay particles and can be readily displaced by simple low-cost chemical solutions, which can be further processed to recover the individual REOs.
The Kimba Project is specifically targeting high-quality kaolin clays and the kaolinite polymorph, halloysite, that has been identified at both the Kelly Tank and Bunora Prospects.
The presence of REEs associated with the clays, if proven to be economically viable to extract during the beneficiation and processing to recover other products, adds another level to the prospectivity to Kimba that will be consistently investigated within the framework of our developing Eyre Peninsula tenements work.
Samples from two holes drilled at Jamieson Tank were also assayed for REEs. These samples were not the targeted manganese mineralisation but the surrounding clay material.