Venture Minerals (ASX: VMS) says it has secured three new tenements surrounding its Jupiter rare earths target in WA’s Mid-West that recently yielded an Australian record clay-hosted rare earths hit of 48m at 3025ppm total rare earth oxides (TREO).
The new exploration licences enclose a total of 361 square kilometres, which complements Venture’s existing project tenure and expands the company’s Brothers project area by 36 per cent.
The Brothers project includes the Jupiter prospect that has yielded numerous sensational rare earths results and is only 80km south-west of the Mid-West town of Mount Magnet in Western Australia.
It is well situated regionally, being away from significant population centres but still close enough to critical infrastructure which includes a nearby bitumen highway and gas pipeline en route to the major port of Geraldton, 300km to the west.
This strategic acquisition strengthens the Company’s land position around Jupiter and facilitates unencumbered access across the project. It provides a potential extension of high-grade, clay-hosted Rare Earth mineralisation to the north of Jupiter and secures the remaining priority clay-hosted Rare Earth targets around the discovery. Jupiter is emerging as a major, Rare Earths discovery ideally located between Lynas’ existing plant and Iluka’s planned Rare Earth processing facilities in the Tier One jurisdiction of the Mid-West region Western Australia.
Venture Minerals managing director Andrew Radonji
The Jupiter carbonatite-style intrusive features abundant highlights which have already shown consistent high-grade zones above 2,000ppm TREO over widths between 20m and 30m. It also exhibits high-grade zones sitting in broader zones that are up to 72m wide that still show solid grade of around 1,000ppm TREO.
Apart from the record 48m hit, Jupiter drilling has also produced a record 5,056ppm neodymium-praseodymium oxides hit comprising 3,824 ppm neodymium oxide and 1,232 ppm praseodymium oxide.
Neodymium and praseodymium are higher-value rare earths as they are commonly used in high-powered industrial magnets deployed in electric vehicle motors and power generation systems.
Other Jupiter results include high grades of other magnet rare earths up 674ppm dysprosium oxide, 101ppm terbium oxide and 614ppm samarium oxide.
The company reports magnet rare earth oxides run at an average of 23 per cent in intersections exceeding 1,000ppm TREO and that the critical deleterious elements thorium and uranium are typically low.
Two of the three licences in the strategic acquisition are contiguous with existing ground surrounding Jupiter and represent the remainder of the available high-priority clay-hosted rare earth targets in the area that are known to be near the Jupiter discovery.
The northernmost new contiguous licence interconnects the ground containing Jupiter’s high-value rare earth hits with the company’s other tenements to the north.
The northernmost Brothers project contains a drill hit of 19m at 1931ppm TREO from 55m to end-of-hole begging the question, how much deeper does it go? Contained within the 55m intersection was a 5m section going an impressive 3380ppm TREO from 60m.
The ground just north of Jupiter contains a significant drill hit of 45m going 1455ppm TREO from 70m which includes 15m at 2105ppm TREO from 80m.
Venture wants to explore the possibility of continuity between the Jupiter mineralisation either directly from the intrusive body along controlling structures, or through enriched clay horizons evolved from the Jupiter intrusive.
The other southern contiguous licence closes off the tenement package to the southeast, while the remaining new licence sits just 3.5km west of the boundary of existing tenure next to Jupiter.
The magnetic and gravity signatures over Jupiter suggest a banana shape to the overall outline of the higher rare earth signatures, with a northerly and a south-west trending arm and the new ground essentially anticipates potential continuity of the Jupiter mineralisation along both trends.
The distribution of high-value rare earth signatures, the arcuate shape of the known centre of mineralisation and the scattered high values further afield all suggest the company’s strategic tying-up of the surrounding ground makes a lot of sense.
The Jupiter discovery is a standout in the rare earths market and it is remarkable that prospectors in the area have been caught napping, allowing Venture to simply walk up and peg the adjacent ground.
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