New Venture Minerals (ASX: VMS) managing director Philippa Leggat has dubbed the company’s Jupiter clay-hosted rare earths deposit in Western Australia’s Mid West region a “once-in-a-lifetime” opportunity driven by growing critical mineral demands.
Leggat, a mineral industry executive with more than 20 years of experience in advancing both domestic and international projects, has vowed to immediately stamp a major focus behind Jupiter – part of Venture’s wider Brothers project – and its vast potential. She has been a non-executive director with the company since late last year.
The appointment continues Venture’s board reshaping, coming hot on the heels of experienced investment banker Tim Lindley being named as new non-executive chairman. Leggat – who was previously chief executive officer of Comet Resources and had director roles with Kula Gold, Geopacific Resources and Ensurance – has replaced Andrew Radonjic, who has been with the company for the past 18 years.
Long-time mining engineer Nick Cernotta also recently joined the Venture board as a non-executive director.
We will be moving quickly in the coming weeks to focus our efforts on Jupiter, an asset with world-class potential, and we thank Andrew for bringing the opportunity to Venture. Venture has a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity – the asset, the people and the timing at the bottom of the pricing cycle. Welcome to the Jupiter journey.
Venture Minerals managing director Philippa Leggat
The Jupiter deposit is within the project formerly known as Iron Duke, where Venture last year signed an earn-in joint venture (JV) with Sentinel Exploration and currently holds a 51 per cent share. It is now moving to the second stage of the earn-in and will increase its share to 70 per cent with a further spend of $500,000 within the next two years.
The company has had Jupiter in the headlines recently with several stunning drill hits including 2m at 26,958ppm total rare earth oxides (TREO) and a whopping 60m at 2014ppm TREO. It has recently expanded its landholding in the region, increasing the Brothers project area to 1165 square kilometres.
Lindley acknowledged Radonjic’s years of service as technical director and managing director with the company, particularly for his valuable contribution in securing Jupiter. The prospect last month produced three of its four best-ever intersections.
Management said the third and final batch of assays received from its stage-one drill program returned standout results of 60m at 2014ppm TREO including 22m going 3024ppm and 39m at 2960ppm including 18m at 5206ppm. It says many intersections between 24m and 50m hit rare earths grading more than 1300ppm TREO.
The thickest recorded hit was 79m at 1805ppm TREO that included 14m at 6054ppm and 2m going 20,538ppm. Management noted the drill results validated the geophysical work it completed at the project, with 71 from a total of 78 drillholes hitting mineralisation of more than 1000ppm TREO.
Encouragingly, the results maintained the magnet rare earth oxides (MREO) encountered at about 23 per cent, similar to the phase one program. An added positive was the low levels of uranium and thorium.
The company will have options if it can build an economic resource at the project, as the ASX-listed Iluka Resources (ASX: ILU) recently reached an agreement involving a risk-sharing arrangement with the Federal Government under its $2 billion Critical Minerals Facility to build the Eneabba rare earths refinery. It will sit about 250km south-west from Brothers and is expected to be production-ready next year.
Leading ASX-listed company Lynas Rare Earths (ASX: LYC) also operates its Mt Weld concentrator about 520km to the east and it may also be suitable for processing the Brothers mineral resource if it is mined.
Venture has several other promising projects on its hands including its Mount Lindsay tin-tungsten project in north-west Tasmania that has one of the world’s biggest undeveloped deposits of its kind.
The company’s new managing director has some “shiny toys” to play with and now it will be a case of nothing ventured, nothing gained in the push to realise the economic potential of Jupiter and the wider Brothers project.
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