Ionic Rare Earths Ltd (ASX:IXR, OTC:IXRRF) has launched a phase 5 drilling program at its Makuutu Rare Earths Project in Uganda in an effort to upgrade resource estimates in key areas.
Makuutu, in which Ionic holds a 60% interest, is comprised of six tenements. Of these, the central RL1693 tenement was the only one used to support a recently unveiled definitive feasibility study (DFS) in March, which outlined an initial 35-year mine life and EBITDA of $2.29 billion.
Scope for growth
Taking into account the other tenements, Ionic said in a statement, “the larger consolidated project has substantial scope for future growth and increasing geopolitical importance”.
As such, the drill program will aim to upgrade the inferred resource at RL00007 to the indicated category, which will support a second-stage DFS and the company’s next mining licence application (MLA), slated for completion in November 2024.
According to a May 2022 announcement, the current inferred resource stands at 532 million tonnes at 640 parts per million (ppm) total rare earth oxide (TREO), based on a cut-off grade of 200 ppm TREO.
In addition to the infill drilling at RL00007, reconnaissance drilling at tenements EL00147 and EL00257 will also take place.
“Ambitious plans”
“Further to the substantial base we have defined as part of the Stage 1 DFS at Makuutu with the MLA over RL1693 pending, we have ambitious plans for further growth along the (37-kilometre-long) mineralised corridor on our tenements,” Ionic Rare Earths managing director Tim Harrison said.
“With a (second) rig due to arrive on site in coming weeks, we will complete a substantial amount of core and (rotary air blast) drilling during this phase 5 program to provide further growth opportunities and to support the next MLA on the Makuutu western zone.”
About Makuutu
Located 120 kilometres east of the capital city Kampala in eastern Uganda, the Makuutu project covers roughly 298 square kilometres and is considered one of the largest ionic adsorption clay (IAC) deposits in the world.
In June 2022, Ionic announced an exploration target — outside of and additional to the estimated resource unveiled the month before — measuring between 216 million and 535 million tonnes grading between 400 and 600 ppm TREO.
The estimated target followed a third-phase rotary air blast drilling campaign in 2021, which identified clay-hosted rare earth mineralisation both in and outside of the sedimentary basin that hosts the Makuutu resource.
- By Oliver Gray