OzAurum Resources Ltd (ASX:OZM) has completed the first pass of ground reconnaissance soil sampling and geological fieldwork at the Saltire and Catalao niobium and rare earth element (REE) project areas in Brazil, which were recently granted to the company.
Samples from the projects – which now cover 179 square kilometres for Salitre and 259 square kilometres of a total planned 318 square kilometres at Catalao – are set to be delivered to a laboratory in Belo Horizonte in the next week.
The company designed the soil sampling program to investigate circular features and targets generated from recently completed hyperspectral interpretation over the Salitre project area, targeting carbonatite intrusion-hosted niobium and REE mineralisation.
Investigating project potential
“It’s great to be on the ground in Brazil undertaking reconnaissance geological fieldwork and soil sampling at our Salitre and Catalao niobium REE project areas, where OZM tenements have recently been granted, to see the potential of these projects,” OzAurum CEO and managing director Andrew Pumphrey said.
“The OZM Saltire and Catalao projects are situated within the Alto Paranaba Magmatic Province (APMP) that accounts for 97% of worldwide niobium production, all hosted in carbonatite intrusions.
“We are very excited with the exploration opportunity that this project presents to OZM shareholders.”
Brazil projects location plan.
Gamma readings, which are used in a ground-based geophysical survey method, registered at 600 counts per second on the project tenure, 3 to 15 times the normal background values from the area, indicating productivity for niobium and REE mineralisation.
The company says it is well funded to pursue its exploration goals on its Brazilian projects, with about $1.1 million in cash available to advance its exploration strategy.