York Harbour Metals Inc is set to buy a rare earth elements (REE) property in western Newfoundland called Bottom Brook, which is close to the company's York Harbour copper-zinc project, in a share deal worth C$2.5 million.
The asset spans 14 licenses covering 13,025 hectares (Ha) and it lies just 27 kilometres (km) from the deep-water port at Turf Point.
"This is a very large land position in a very underexplored part of western Newfoundland and boasts excellent logistics being next to the Trans-Canada Highway and having a powerline crossing it," said Bruce Durham, the CEO of York Harbour said.
"The original REE discoveries were made during a uranium exploration years ago. The prospectors involved in that project have continued to explore and refine the understanding of the REE mineralization on the project and that work has identified very high mineralization with values up to an extremely high grade of 21.63% TREO," he added.
WATCH: Mines & Money: York Harbour Metals
"Critical to economic prospectivity in REE projects being evaluated in various locations in Canada and elsewhere are mineralogy, access to shipping, access to power and a favourable political jurisdiction.
"This project has it all and we can't wait to get started on our quest to define a significant resource as quickly as possible. We look forward to updating all interested parties on closing of this transaction."
Preliminary exploration at Bottom Brook has mostly focused on uranium. According to 280 (2022), grab rock samples from 17 widely-spaced showings of boulders and bedrock within a small part of the project have returned total rare earth oxide (TREO) grading 3.45% to a high of 21.63% TREO.
In addition, rare earth mineralization at the project is hosted in monazite, which is the main mineral host to the majority of rare earths processed in the world.
The company must pay a C$100,000 cash deposit to keep the property in good standing and the purchase price is C$2.5M, satisfied by issuing York shares at a price equal to the five-day volume weighted average price per share calculated for 10 days before closing.
The licenses are held in the name of private Ontario company 2802903 Ontario Ltd (280), which is wholly-owned by private company Newbay Mining Corp.
Under the deal, Newbay shareholders, 280 and Newbay agreed to continue the corporate existence of 280 to British Columbia and then amalgamate with Newbay to form a private British Columbia amalgamated company (Amalco) as the registered holder of the property.
Upon closing, York Harbour Metals said it will hold a webinar, expected in January, to introduce and discuss the asset in further detail.
York Harbour Metals Inc is focused on the York Harbour high-grade copper-zinc project, which includes a past-producing mine and sits around 27 km west-northwest of Corner Brook, Newfoundland.
The company is currently awaiting permits to access the 4 Level Adit which once approved, could provide access to over 1,280 metres (m) of underground workings.
Contact the author at giles@proactiveinvestors.com