Krakatoa Resources Limited (ASX: KTA), best known as a gold explorer, has received granted tenure over the first of several previous exploration licence applications it has lodged over ground in Western Australia that it has identified as having Rare Earth Element (REE) potential.
Chief Executive Officer, Mark Major, said the granting of the newly awarded exploration licence E09/2357 at the highly anticipated Mt Clere Project is a major milestone for the company.
Licence E09/2357 is located in the Gascoyne Region of WA and covers an area of 303 sq. km.
Collectively, Krakatoa commands approximately 1,780 sq, km of prospective geology at the Mt Clere Project. The project covers regions of structural complexity within dense rocks of the Narryer Terrane thought to represent reworked remnants of greenstone sequences that are prospective for intrusion-hosted Ni-Cu-(Co)- (PGE’s).
Krakatoa initially applied for Mt Clere based on the tenure containing significant Rare Earth Element (REE) geochemical anomalies originally delineated by BHP Minerals and subsequently confirmed by Astro Mining in the 1990s.
The awarding of this licence is a significant milestone for Krakatoa shareholders. We thank Colin Locke and the team for their exhaustive efforts in pursuing heritage agreement negotiations with the various native title parties throughout the year,” Mr Major said.
“Seven applications remain, two from 2019 and five recently applied for in late 2020. We expect the 2019 applications to be awarded shortly, while the new application grants are anticipated for early 2021.
“There is a statutory requirement for the state to advertise all exploration licence applications for a period of four months, allowing for all registered native title claimant or determined native title holders in the licence area, time to lodge an objection if so desired.
“We expect the all the applications to go through without issue as there are no new native title parties and the current agreement negotiations are close to completion.”
“The company has been negotiating heritage agreements with respective native title parties since lodging the initial applications in 2019. Agreement negotiations now appear close to finalisation.
“The company anticipates commencement of field activities once the 2019 exploration licence applications are awarded, statutory programmes of works are approved by the regulators and the climate is more conducive to remote geochemical exploration programmes.”