Arafura Resources Limited (ASX:ARU) has started drilling and metallurgical programs aimed at extending the mine life of the Nolans Neodymium-Praseodymium (NdPr) project in the Northern Territory.
The company is confident that this work will increase mine life beyond the 23 years envisaged in the definitive feasibility study (DFS).
Drilling planned for the Nolans Bore deposit comprises up to nine inclined diamond core holes.
Southeast Zone targeted
Five of these holes are being drilled across the Southeast Zone of the deposit into shallow resources where there is limited or no diamond drill core available.
These infill resource definition holes will be cored from surface to final depths of between 70 and 120 metres to confirm material types, refine resource modelling and better inform mine planning.
Indicated resources in this part of the deposit have previously been estimated primarily on reverse circulation (RC) drilling.
Metallurgical program
Core samples from the five holes will be used in a metallurgical program being completed at Nagrom’s mineral processing facility in Perth.
This involves flotation variability test work on a large number of samples of material types that were included in the Nolans DFS upside case production schedule but excluded from the base case production schedule based on ore reserves only.
The drilling and metallurgical programs are expected to be completed during the December quarter and will be funded from the recently completed fully underwritten $23.2 million entitlement offer.
Updated reserve estimate
This work will result in an updated estimate of ore reserves and corresponding mine life.
Four other diamond core holes are designed to target deep extensions of NdPr-rich mineralisation 100-200 metres beneath the final mining pit in the North and Southeast zones.
Arafura plans final depths for these holes to lie in the range of 350-500 metres.
Assay results from this drilling are expected in the early part of 2020.
The company is also bringing forward a small geotechnical drilling program originally scheduled for 2020 to confirm the suitability of rocks near the project site for construction materials.