Appia Rare Earths & Uranium Corp revealed that its Alces Lake field camp has reopened, and the team has mobilized to kick off the annual exploration program at its high-grade rare earth element (REE) and gallium Alces Lake property, in northern Saskatchewan.
The Toronto, Ontario-based company is looking at its largest ever drilling program with over 12,000 metres (m) planned for 2022.
Drilling will continue to evaluate the Wilson, Richard Charles, Bell and including, Ivan, Dante, and Dylan (WRCB) discovery area to determine the size, orientation, and continuity of high-grade mineralization, said the company.
WATCH: Appia Rare Earth and Uranium Corp sees great drill results from Alces Lake property
Appia is looking at drilling on the trend northwest and southeast of the WRCB area to evaluate the potential of the Hinge, Ermacre, Quartzite and Danny targets as well as Strocen and Augier to investigate significant tonnage potential.
The company also plans to continue exploration and delineation drilling on the Western Anomaly to evaluate the most promising discoveries, including Sweet Chili Heat, Zesty and Diablo, as well as other undrilled targets.
Appia had a cash and working capital position of $11.8 million on February 23, 2022, with in-the-money warrants that could bring in additional funds to the treasury.
In a statement, Appia president Frederick Kozak, said: "After the most active drilling program in the company's history in 2021, we are going back to Alces Lake earlier than ever to take advantage of our year-round infrastructure. We are about to start a very ambitious drilling and exploration program and look forward to further delineating identified targets within the 27 square kilometres of prospective exploration lands.”
He added: “High-grade REE and gallium mineralization has been identified in the WRCB area. In 2021, the company identified the highly prospective Western Anomaly where a number of highly mineralized targets have been drilled. The Western Anomaly will be a significant focus in 2022."
The team at Alces Lake is now preparing the camp for geologists, technicians, and drillers to trickle in. Weather permitting, drilling is expected to start with one diamond drill before the end of March. As daylight hours increase, the company plans to add a second drill later in April for two drills operating on a twenty-four seven basis, said the company.
Initial drilling will concentrate on the WRCB area where mineralization has been identified through drilling. Appia intends to better define the known mineralization, extend the discoveries, and evaluate new targets within the 27 square kilometre (km2) high-grade rare earth areas that have yet to be tested.
The company expects assay results for almost 50% of the assays from drilling carried out in 2021 to come by the end of March. Once the results are evaluated, Appia will update its geologic model to refine some drilling targets for 2022.
Appia said it plans to drill “significantly deeper” holes in 2022 compared to the 100 holes drilled over 8,075m in 2021. This is designed to allow Appia to determine continuity at depth, along with identified REE mineralization trends.
With high-grade REE mineralization now being identified in several places within an area covering 27 km2 of the Alces Lake block, Appia believes the project has the potential to be a world-class source of high-grade critical rare earth bearing monazite.
Contact the author Uttara Choudhury at uttara@proactiveinvestors.com
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