East Star Resources PLC (LSE:EST) was awarded a new exploration licence comprising 59 blocks at Talairyk 1 on the Talairyk heavy rare earth elements project in the Kostanay region of Kazakhstan, into which the company is farming in for up to a 90% interest.
Talairyk 1 covers 134.7 square kilometres and is contiguous with the 10 square kilometre Talairyk licence.
Talairyk 1 is highly prospective for ionic adsorption clay-hosted heavy rare earth elements.
Talairyk 1 will be included in the farm-in agreement with Phoenix Mining announced on 18 May 2022, with East Star expenditure on Talairyk 1 also contributing towards the agreed earn-in milestones.
"Rare earth elements are classed by the UK as representing the highest global supply risk and the third highest UK economic vulnerability,” said Alex Walker, chief executive of East Star Resources.
“We are therefore very pleased to extend our heavy rare earth element footprint in the region by over tenfold and secure access to additional prospective ground for IAC-hosted minerals - the same geology as the rare earths of South China on which the world currently substantially depends. We will immediately begin the application process to commence field work so the exploration programme can align with that of the Talairyk deposit, where we aim to be drilling in the first half of next year.”
The size of the Talairyk deposit is already significant and could provide the scale required for feasibility work.
Potentially economically extractible IACs are rarely found outside of South China with only a few in South East Asia in production today although there are exploration and development projects underway in Australia, Brazil, Chile and Uganda.
IAC deposits tend to require lower capex and opex as they are shallow and free dig clays, which are easy to process.