Regener8 Resources (ASX: R8R) has bagged two new tenements considered highly-prospective for critical minerals with both being contiguous to its existing Seven Sisters ground, at the company’s East Ponton Future Metals project some 200km north-east of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia.
The Hatlifter prospect, which the company believes has a similar geological setting to Deep Yellow’s multi-element Ambassador deposit, sits within the newly-granted East Sisters tenement. It says the two tenements, which it has named East Sisters and West Sisters, boosts its ground at the project to what management describes as a significant package offering multi-element prospectivity.
Regener8’s 88-square-kilometre Grasshopper rare earth prospect lies to the north and is also contiguous to East Sisters, with the 456sq-km Seven Sisters prospect now surrounded on its east and west side by the new sister tenements. Both Grasshopper and Seven Sisters were secured under a 12-month option agreement last July.
The Hatlifter prospect was previously explored by Dominion Mining, which drilled at the prospect to follow up a gold-in-soil anomaly. For some inexplicable reason, only the bottom few metres of several intersections were dispatched for multi-element assaying, with one end-of-hole sample returning 3m at 1.3 per cent nickel and 0.61 per cent cobalt.
Historical logging records indicate mineralisation was intersected, with more thickness length than was eventually assayed. Logging description of nearby holes also suggested the potential for a broad horizontal extent of the same geology.
Studying Deep Yellow’s Mulga Rock East resource update and similarities in geological setting to our Hatlifter prospect, we are further encouraged and excited to test the Hatlifter. It’s been 15 years since Hatlifter was drilled, historically intersecting up to 3m @ 1.3% Ni and 0.6% Co and showing substantial thickness (up to 17m) of the same logged unit above tested interval, although never assayed. We are looking forward to investigating this as a high priority as soon as possible.
Regener8 Resources managing director Stephen Foley
There are a significant number of paleochannels within the area where the company’s tenements sit.
Management believes the Hatlifter prospect may feature a paleochannel setting similar to Deep Yellow’s Ambassador deposit and contain a variety of undiscovered mineral elements. If Hatlifter proves to be prospective for critical minerals, similar geophysical methods employed at Ambassador may be used at the budding project.
The company says land access and heritage agreement negotiations are ongoing with the native title party as it endeavours to obtain the required clearances to enable exploration to begin.
Deep Yellow’s Mulga Rock East project that contains the Ambassador deposit sits about 80km north of Hatlifter and the company recently updated its uranium resource to 71.2 million pounds, combined with a minimum 100 per cent increase to all the various critical mineral resources.
Its stated combined resources from its Ambassador and Princess deposits at Mulga Rock East consist of 81.2 million tonnes for 41,400 tonnes of copper at 510 parts per million, 55,900 tonnes of nickel at 690ppm, 32,700 tonnes of cobalt going 405ppm, 119,100 tonnes of zinc at 1465ppm and total rare earth oxides (TREO) of 47,600 tonnes going 585ppm.
Interestingly, the valuable magnet rare earths praseodymium and neodymium and even more valuable heavy rare earths of dysprosium and terbium account for about 35 per cent of the total weight of the TREO – equal to some 16,000 tonnes.
Regener8 also has its Kookynie gold project, which consists of four prospects. The historic Kookynie gold district, which has become a unique WA tourism attraction featuring a retired harness racing horse that lives at the old pub, sits about 150km north of Kalgoorlie and has produced more than 500,000 ounces of gold.
There has recently been merger and acquisition activity within the region as the gold price has surged to all-time highs.
Nearby explorers within the district have produced some stunning gold hits, with Carnavale Resources recording stellar intersections of 6m at 68.78 grams per tonne from 134m, 6m at 41.38g/t from 181m including 3m at 78.1g/t and 4m going 38.28g/t from 158m – all at the McTavish East prospect that sits a few kilometres from three of Regener8’s gold prospects.
Now, the company will be hoping it can prove its Hatlifter prospect contains sufficient critical minerals to breathe new life into its promising package of multi-commodity projects.
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