PVW Resources Ltd (ASX:PVW) has kicked off its maiden drilling campaign at the Tanami Heavy Rare Earth and Gold Project in the Northern Territory.
The explorer plans to complete 10,000 metres of reverse circulation (RC) and 25,000 metres of aircore drilling as it works to extend the areas of known heavy rare earth mineralisation at Tanami.
Initially, the RC bit will spin at the Castella and Watts Rise prospects, where PVW believes there’s potential for unconformity-related rare earth mineralisation along an 18-kilometre trend.
In the past, exploration at Castella has returned as much as 12.45% total rare earth oxides (TREO), while rock chips at Watts rise fielded up to 9.26% TREO.
Down the track, an aircore drill will hit the deck in September and target extensions to the Serpa and Nessa prospects.
The drilling campaign is expected to continue into October and November, and PVW will report on its findings over the coming months.
“Right ingredients” for rare earth discovery
PVW executive director George Bauk said: “We are absolutely delighted to have drilling underway in the Tanami, providing the first real test of the string of high-priority targets generated by our 2021 field program and historical data analysis.
“The Tanami Project has all the right ingredients to deliver a significant rare earths discovery – with the right stratigraphy and structures and with known occurrences of heavy rare earth mineralisation.
“The initial focus of the drilling will be at the Castella and Watts Rise prospects, where rock chip results have already confirmed high-grade HRE mineralisation, before moving on to test other key targets along the 18-kilometre prospective corridor that extends between Nesa and Castella.
“We expect this drilling to continue until well into the December 2022 quarter, providing shareholders with a steady stream of news flow over the remainder of the year.”
