Lion Rock Minerals (ASX:LRM) has confirmed high-grade rare earth mineralisation from surface at its Minta Project, adding a potentially important second dimension to what had primarily been a rutile story.
Results included:
- 2.3m @ 4.54% TREO from surface
- 3.0m @ 3.40% TREO from surface
- 2.0m @ 3.49% TREO from surface
- 5.0m @ 1.67% TREO from surface
One interval peaked at 21.15% TREO before the auger hit refusal, leaving the mineralisation open at depth.
Table 1: Batch 4 and Batch 5 direct REE assay summary for the selected 90-result dataset.
The auger ran out before the rare earths did
That is the interesting part.
The shallow auger drilling could not penetrate the harder saprolite beneath the mineral sands, yet some of the strongest grades were appearing right where the holes stopped.
Lion Rock is now planning diamond drilling to find out what sits underneath.
It is not just the grade
The rare earth basket also carries the ingredients investors tend to care about most.
NdPr represents around 21% to 24% of TREO in the leading intervals, while DyTb contributes another 0.6% to 1.6%. Those are the rare earths used in high-performance permanent magnets.
Management called the discovery a step change for Minta and is moving quickly to test its scale.
What’s next
Lion Rock has just completed 761 auger holes across roughly 50km of prospective ground, generating 3,666 samples.
The first 638 are already at the laboratory, with batches of results expected over the coming weeks. Diamond drilling is also being expedited to test the high-grade mineralisation beneath the auger limit.
Minta already had the rutile, now Lion Rock has a rare earth discovery to chase as well.
The best part, the first holes have not even found the bottom…
