Elevated TREO grades have been returned during a follow up drilling program at BCM’s Apui ENE project
The program also pulled in NdPr values up to 663ppm
The company will now test the metallurgical properties of the results over the coming months
Special report: The Apui ENE rare earth elements (REE) project, the second major discovery made by Brazilian Critical Minerals in 2023, returns high-grades up to 3,357ppm total rare earth oxide (TREO) during follow up auger drilling.
Brazilian Critical Minerals (ASX:BCM) is now realising the potential scale and prospectivity of the Apui ENE project after carrying out a program of regional reconnaissance auger drilling in November 2020.
The discovery hole pulled up REE values up to 2,757ppm TREO – as well as 594ppm NdPr and over 7% potash from metre 8 to 12– within two leases near Apui, Brazil.
The program was suspended due to the start of the wet season in mid-December before a follow up program of 19 auger holes totalling 216m kicked off, down the road from BCM’s 1Bt Ema project, one of the largest ionic REE projects in the world.
BCM’s projects in Brazil. Pic: Brazilian Critical Minerals
Stand out TREO results
New high-grade results have been received from the follow-up drilling program, including:
5m at 2,257ppm TREO from 13m, including 3m at 3,357ppm TREO;
15m at 1,195ppm TREO from surface, including 3m at 1,979ppm TREO; and
8m at 1,067ppm TREO from surface, including 3m at 1,217ppm TREO.
Interestingly, BCM says less than 10% of the 173km2 project has been drill tested, with elevated TREO grades starting from surface and returning values up to 663ppm.
Metallurgical testing in the works
“These excellent drilling results at Apui ENE clearly demonstrate the potential of the larger region to deliver significant mineral resource growth, which is in close proximity to our flagship Ema REE project,” BCM managing director Andrew Reid says.
“We now look forward to testing the metallurgical properties of these new results with next steps to include continuing additional drilling activities over the coming months to further define the mineral resource size.”
Step out drilling and deeper holes in this same area are being planned to define and intercept the enriched horizon containing the ionic rare earths.
This article was developed in collaboration with Brazilian Critical 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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