Venture Minerals (ASX: VMS) has continued racking up the records at its Jupiter prospect in Western Australia’s Mid West region, with the company today confirming its longest clay-hosted rare earths intersection to date – an 80m hit at 1839 parts per million total rare earth oxides (TREO) including 36m going 2503ppm.
Backing up a host of headline hits in recent months, management also says six results from the first 59 holes in its recently-completed 246-hole, 14,370m air-core (AC) drilling program rank among the top 13 intercepts received from the Jupiter deposit.
Just two months ago, Venture unveiled what it said was Australia’s best-ever rare earths drill hit of 48m at 3025ppm TREO at Jupiter and followed up with its best magnet rare earth oxides (MREO) result of 2m containing 5056ppm neodymium (Nd) and praseodymium (Pr) oxides.
When the company announced Philippa Leggat as its new managing director on Monday, she vowed to immediately fly into work aimed at making the most of the Jupiter play – and it clearly has not taken long for her to take the first steps. It obviously now constitutes Venture’s highest-priority rare earths target at its Brothers project, 80km south-west of Mount Magnet.
With the latest results continuing to reveal many consistently high-grade zones assaying more than 2000ppm TREO with widths between 20m and 44m in intercepts up to 80m long and with grades between 1191ppm and 2050ppm, Jupiter seems determined to move from its “humble” prospect status to something far more august.
The second best intercept from the latest results shows 66m at 1516ppm TREO including 16m going 3407ppm.
This is the kind of substance that builds a meaningful project. Jupiter’s scale, grade and tier 1 location all play into the strategic nature of this discovery. This potential is the basis for our vision to restructure the Company to become one of the best rare earths and critical minerals companies in Australia.
Venture Minerals managing director Philippa Leggat
The key 40-square-kilometre target area contains rare earths-rich clay derivatives from an ovoid or kidney-shaped alkaline intrusive body that measures about 10km long and between 4.5km and 5.5km wide, with its long axis trending north-east.
Infill drilling in the north at the current density of 500m by 250m in selected locations is highlighting a north-eastern zone with almost ubiquitous intercepts ranking better than 50,000m.ppm (metre intercept multiplied by assay value in parts per million TREO).
At this stage, however, the southern four lines of 1km-spaced drilling – or all of the southern half of the total target area – remain to be tested by infill drilling. It contains intercepts on every line, the majority of which also rank above 50,000m.ppm TREO.
There seems no reason why similar results to those coming out of the northern half should not be forthcoming in future infill work in the south, which the company has already flagged for its current infill program.
Management says the 23 per cent component of magnet rare earth oxides (MREO) in the latest intercepts averaging higher than 1000ppm TREO continues to prevail and thorium and uranium responses remain low.
Venture is awaiting assays for another 187 holes and the completion of this round of drilling will lead into an assessment on whether to extend of the next phase at Jupiter.
On the strength of current finds, chances are that management will want to reach for the stars.
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