Eclipse Metals Ltd (ASX:EPM) is gearing up to re-estimate the rare earth elements mineral resource at the Grønnedal prospect, part of the Ivigtût Project in southwestern Greenland.
EPM has been working to expand the mineral resource estimate (MRE) at Grønnedal based on limited, shallow drill testing of a small section of the larger rare earth-enriched carbonatite complex, accounting for about 5% of the potential mineralised body.
Updated mineral resource
Eclipse will use six samples from historical drilling in this section to refine and validate x-ray fluorescent analysis results for a more precise resource estimation.
The analysis will focus on rare earth element (REE) mineralisation, with an additional emphasis on niobium and gallium.
The company says selected samples are also being analysed with a TESCAN Integrated Mineral Analyser (TIMA) mineralogical analysis in order to align chemical analyses with specific mineralogical features, enhancing EPM’s understanding of resource quality and distribution.
Eclipse has developed an exploration target of between 175 and 245 million tonnes of REE mineralisation grading between 6,000 parts per million (ppm) and 7,000ppm total rare earth oxides (TREO) for Grønnedal.
EPM expects to receive the results of this re-analysis in the first quarter of this year, at which point the company can begin drill targeting and planning with the intention to increase the classified mineral resource of the prospect.
The current Grønnedal inferred resource is 1.18 million tonnes for 8,070 tonnes of TREO, 7,380 tonnes LREO, 700 tonnes HREO and 2,810 tonnes MREO.