Gold Mountain Ltd (ASX:GMN) is heading into an auger drill campaign confident it is closing in on highly anomalous, widespread rare earth element (REE) mineralisation at the Down Under REE Project in Brazil.
The company has fielded initial batches of stream sediment samples and conducted detailed geophysical radiometric traversing on selected roads and tracks over regional anomalies in a program spanning some 85 square kilometres.
Results compare favourably
These results, from 260 stream sediment samples taken from across the project, compare more than favourably with geochemical samples from known REE-mineralised catchments.
This includes very high-grade mineralisation over 4% total rare earth oxides (TREO), which showed similar radiometric values in road traverses within GMN tenements.
The assays point to widespread anomalies and indicate the potential for ionic adsorption clay (IAC)-type deposits and ultra-high grade hard rock monazite hosted REE-niobium-uranium-scandium mineralisation.
Substantial thorium anomalies have also been found in initial spectrometer traverses, coinciding with highly anomalous stream sediment geochemical results.
Homing in on five targets
The company has identified extensive REE-anomalous catchments, many forming contiguous highly anomalous catchments over distances up to 8 kilometres in strike length.
The assays indicate widespread anomalous spectrometer radiometric thorium intervals up to 1,600 metres wide.
All this work has helped Gold Mountain refine five immediate drill targets, with initial drilling set to begin upon the delivery of an auger drill rig, dispatched by the manufacturer on July 5.
The exploration program will include auger drilling, extensive additional spectrometer traverses in anomalous regions and further stream sediment and channel sampling to confirm REE contents.
This follow-up is scheduled to commence this month, with additional results from the laboratory expected by the end of the month.
Ronaldinho
Over at the Ronaldinho Project, radiometric anomalies found in RO line 1 near Maracas are being followed up with stream sediment samples to confirm the anomalies before drilling.
The well-preserved to partially eroded laterite profiles suggest good preservation of potential IAC REE deposits.
The anomalies may be more continuous than previously shown due to alluvium covering part of the traverse area.
Auger drilling into the Ronaldinho saprolite zone will kick off once a second drill rig is delivered, expected in August.
What’s next?
Follow-up plans include auger drilling to 10 metres depth and into the saprolite zone, depending on anomaly locations.
An auger drill rig is in transit to the GMN field office and is expected to arrive this month.
Drilling will focus on areas with geochemical or radiometric thorium anomalies, ranked according to anomaly value and laterite profile presence.
Results are expected to continue to flow from the 350-odd samples from the Down Under Project at the laboratory.
The sampling program is ongoing, covering 10 to 20 square kilometres per day, weather and access permitting.