CuFe Ltd has broadened its portfolio in Western Australia through the strategic acquisition of two tenements in the state’s emerging future-facing critical minerals provinces.
The first of these, E80/5925, about 620 kilometres south of Kununurra in the up-and-coming West Arunta region, holds potential for the discovery and extraction of rare earth elements (REEs) including niobium, hosted in carbonatite.
This region has previously yielded encouraging exploration results for companies like WA1 Resources Ltd and Encounter Resources Ltd, heightening its allure as a sought-after exploration destination.
The second licence, P45/3061, in the lithium-rich Tambourah region of the Pilbara, is conveniently located near Trek Metals Ltd, a company spearheading a spodumene-targeting drilling campaign.
On the financial front, the acquisition of these licences was secured via a share-based consideration of 30 million CuFe shares, allowing the company to conserve cash reserves for on-ground operations.
“Exciting exploration opportunities”
CuFe executive director Mark Hancock said: “We are pleased to secure these exciting exploration opportunities for CuFe.
“The West Arunta region is attracting a lot of attention recently with exciting results from the likes of WA1.
“The Tambourah project complements our recently acquired lithium tenements near Coolgardie and increases our likelihood of exploration success in this space.
“We now have exposure to two of the largest lithium provinces in Australia.
“These early-stage projects give us the opportunity to chase game-changing discoveries for future-facing commodities while continuing to progress our more mature projects at Yarram (iron ore) and Tennant Creek (copper) towards production.”
West Arunta
The West Arunta Region is rapidly becoming a significant rare earths and copper province. Discoveries of niobium and REEs within carbonatites have been demonstrated by early exploration by WA1 Resources (Luni Project) and Encounter Resources.
E80/5925 surrounds Lycaon Resources Ltd’s Stansmore Project (E80/5868), where magnetic targets have been identified that have the potential for REE-carbonatite mineralisation.
This tenure is similar in geological setting to the WA1 and ENR projects and niobium discoveries about 70 kilometres to the south. The tenement covers 48 square kilometres and, to date, has not been explored for REEs.
This region is also prospective for copper and gold.
E80/5925 is an exploration lease application located in an ‘A Class’ Aboriginal reserve and exploration in the area will require the approval of the WA Mines Minister.
A number of other explorers are active in the region within the Aboriginal reserve.
The initial focus of activities on E80/5925 will be desktop studies while progressing the tenure and obtaining permission to explore.
Tambourah region
P45/3061 is a 1.9-square-kilometre tenement in a 40-kilometre corridor that contains LCT-type pegmatites and lithium occurrences.
This corridor is about 90 kilometres south of the Pilgangoora and Wodgina Lithium complexes and 175 kilometres south of Port Hedland.
The tenement is in close proximity to TKM, Tambourah Metals Ltd, Riversgold Ltd and Infinity Mining Ltd, with numerous lithium occurrences identified.
Tenement P45/3061 has historically been explored for gold and there has been no known exploration for lithium.
CuFe will look to kick off mapping and sampling work immediately on P45/3061 to identify drill targets.