Consistent clay intersections a promising sign for Venture Minerals’ first resource drilling program at Jupiter

Venture Minerals completes first stage resource drilling at the Jupiter REE prospect
Most holes intersected consistent zones of clay, with XRF confirming REE mineralisation
The company now commits to moving to 90% ownership of Jupiter as per JV milestones

Special Report: Venture Minerals has wrapped up Stage 1 resource drilling at its large-scale Jupiter clay-hosted rare earths prospect in WA’s Mid-West region, taking it up to the 70% expenditure milestone. 

The 40km2 Jupiter prospect – part of the Brothers project – is especially intriguing for the company given its potential to host REEs of significant scale and grade close to the Mt Weld rare earths concentrator operated by Lynas Rare Earths (ASX: LYC) and the upcoming Eneabba refinery being developed by Iluka Resources (ASX: ILU).

Maiden RC drilling carried out by Venture Minerals (ASX:VMS) has added more weight to this belief, returning consistent 20-30m widths of rare earth mineralisation grading over 2,000 parts per million (ppm) TREO within broader zones of up to 64m grading over 1,000ppm TREO.

Valuable magnet rare earth oxides also make up a significant part of the intersected material, averaging 23% over the +1,000ppm intersections.

This was reason enough for the company to launch a 5,000m resource drill program in late November.

The Jupiter prospect. Source: VMS

Consistent zones of clay found in most holes

VMS completed 82 holes totalling 5,052m on a 1,000m by 500m spaced pattern in this first stage resource program.

Most of the holes intersected broad consistent zones of clay with portable XRF confirming the presence of REE mineralisation.

While XRF is no replacement for proper laboratory assaying, it provides a quick and useful guide into whether a dril hole has hit pay dirt.

Assays are expected in the coming weeks and will help VMS define a maiden resource with potentially significant grades at Jupiter.

“Stage one resource definition drill program at our priority, large-scale Jupiter rare earths target, has been completed with early indications suggesting the infill drilling should deliver broad zones of high-grade clay hosted mineralisation,” VMS managing director Andrew Radonjic said.

“This drilling continues to confirm Venture’s belief that the Jupiter target has the potential to become an exceptional rare earths project with excellent access to infrastructure and processing plants in the tier one jurisdiction of Western Australia.

“With that in mind, the board has committed to go to 90% ownership of the Jupiter target having just met the 70% milestone late last year, and looks forward to delivering a cost-effective maiden resource of high-grade, critical REE minerals in Q1 2024.”

 

This article was developed in collaboration with Venture Minerals, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.

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