Cobra Resources PLC (LSE:COBR) said further re-analysis of historic drilling at the Wudinna project in South Australia has defined exceptional high-grade rare earth element (REE) intersections at several targets.
The results from 78 drillholes (1,024 samples) were re-analysed following Cobra’s discovery of REE mineralisation above the Clarke and Baggy Green gold mineralisation.
The high-grade REE intersections include 31 metres (m) at 1,427 parts per million (ppm) total rare earth oxides (TREO), including 12m at 3,168 ppm TREO; 18m at 2,024 ppm TREO; and 37m at 1,304 ppm TREO.
"These results contain some of the highest grade REE intersections reported from the project to date with high quantities of high-value magnet rare earths including neodymium, praseodymium and dysprosium,” said chief executive Rupert Verco.
A number of the prospects yielding high-grade rare earth intersections will be tested during the company’s current aircore drilling programme.
The high-grade intersections occur along a 47-kilometre structural trend across the project's 1,832 km2, demonstrating the scale potential of REE mineralisation, it said. Significant intersections were reported at four prospects: Anderson, Thompson, Hadlee and Botham.
“The reported rare earth grades and widths to date demonstrate that the Wudinna project is potentially a world-class rare earth province,” said Verco.
Preliminary metallurgical test work on samples from two drillholes at the Clarke prospect confirmed the presence of leachable REE mineralisation, with leach recoveries in line with other rare earth projects, Cobra said.