Kingfisher (LON:KGF) Mining Ltd (ASX:KFM) has made further new high-grade rare earth elements (REE) mineralisation discoveries from rock chip sampling at its 100%-owned Mick Well Project in the Gascoyne Mineral Field in Western Australia.
Samples from new REE discoveries at MW7 and MW8 along Kingfisher’s 54-kilometre target corridor returned high-grade results of more than 17.6% Total Rare Earth Oxides (TREO).
The explorer’s current mapping and rock chipping work is targeting a large number of laterally-extensive high-priority targets in a broad area that extends 10 kilometres west-northwest from the MW2 prospect ahead of a drilling campaign in the coming weeks.
Significantly, the new MW7 and MW8 discoveries occur in northeast-trending structures and crosscut the west-northwest-trending target corridor, which extends for more than 54 kilometres in the company’s tenure.
Additional assays from the ongoing mapping and surface sampling of the new targets along the target corridor are expected in late November.
MW8 monazite-rich sample MWGS1224, 17.64% TREO.
"Ecstatic!"
“We are ecstatic with the latest discoveries at MW7 and MW8,” Kingfisher executive director and chief executive officer James Farrell said.
“We are advancing along the target corridor with these new high-grade outcropping REE discoveries coming from the initial 3 kilometres of the 54-kilometre strike of the mineralised corridor.
“The new discoveries now mean there are multiple cross-cutting lodes over a 2-kilometre zone extending along the corridor from our initial discovery at the MW2 Prospect, where drilling is scheduled to commence in the coming weeks.
“We are extremely encouraged by the results and the potential of our extensive tenement package as we continue our mapping and rock chipping programs.“
Extending strike
Rock chip results for MW7, MW8 and other newly discovered mineralisation.
Mineralisation at MW8 has been mapped in two parallel lodes that outcrop over a strike length of more than 300 metres. Some of the standout results include:
- 17.64% TREO with 3.82% Nd2O3 + Pr6O11 (MWGS1224);
- 16.75% TREO with 3.66% Nd2O3 + Pr6O11 (MWGS1232);
- 13.80% TREO with 3.02% Nd2O3 + Pr6O11 (MWGS1301); and
- 10.62% TREO with 2.34% Nd2O3 + Pr6O11 (MWGS1152).
MW7 and MW8 are 700 metres and 1,900 metres northwest of MW2, respectively, where recent drilling returned high-grade REE results of 5 metres at 3.45% TREO.
Additional results from rock chip sampling at MW2 include:
- 7.34% TREO with 1.68% Nd2O3 + Pr6O11 (MWGS1193);
- 5.06% TREO with 1.13% Nd2O3 + Pr6O11 (MWGS1177);
- 3.91% TREO with 0.78% Nd2O3 + Pr6O11 (MWGS1191); and
- 3.19% TREO with 0.64% Nd2O3 + Pr6O11 (MWGS1179).
The Mick Well Project is about 230 kilometres east of Carnarvon in the Gascoyne region of Western Australia.
Kingfisher holds exploration licences covering 969 square kilometres and has recently increased its interests in the Gascoyne Mineral Field by nearly 40% through the targeted pegging of additional tenure deemed to be prospective for REE.
The tenure includes rocks that host the world-class Yangibana Deposit, which includes 29.93 million tonnes at 0.93% TREO as well as the Archaean Halfway Gneiss.
Recently discovered REE mineralisation at Mick Well is associated with carbonatite intrusions discovered by Kingfisher, where past exploration returned rock chip sample results of up to 10.6% copper over a strike length of 1 kilometre within a laterally extensive geological horizon.