Viridis Mining & Minerals (ASX: VMM) has nailed down seven new tenements adjoining the Centro Sul and Cupim South ionic rare earths prospects within its Colossus rare earths project in Brazil.
Spanning almost 200 additional hectares, the company has been able to secure the additional ground for a mere $131,000, firmly stamping its presence in the highly-prospective area.
The most notable lot includes a 107ha tenement that directly borders the eastern side of its Centro Sul prospect. Secured for just $83,000 at a National Mining Agency (ANM) auction, the new concession effectively increases the Centro Sul landholding to almost 700ha.
Viridis also picked up a further six, relatively small tenements at the same auction for $48,000. Two of them, covering 44ha, adjoin the northern border of Centro Sul and the southern border of Cupim South, effectively joining up the two targets to establish one continuous and contiguous landholding within the prospect, allowing for access and operational benefits. The balance of four lots comprising 47ha are dotted around the overall Poços de Caldas alkaline complex, giving the company further exploration opportunities.
These new concessions adjoin our existing Centro Sul and Cupim South Extension Prospects and will be seamlessly included into our mine planning. More importantly, it takes our contiguous cluster of tenements in the south to an imposing 1732 Hectares (17.32 Km2) and could potentially support decades of high-grade production.
Viridis Mining & Minerals CEO Rafael Moreno
The southern tenements are slated for systematic exploration, with results expected to contribute to the next resource upgrade for the Colossus project. Viridis has already completed 75 auger holes in the Centro Sul area, with assays pending.
The company hit the headlines a year ago when it secured 100 per cent of the 56-square-kilometre ionic-adsorption clay (IAC) rare earths project in the Brazilian State of Minas Gerais, 900km north-west of Rio de Janeiro. Initial auger holes by the previous owner identified high-grade mineralisation of up to 2000 parts per million from a maximum depth of 3m.
Since then, it has peppered the grounds with drillholes, bringing in many new discoveries with ultra-high grades as much as 27,000ppm in one instance and world-record recoveries of 67 per cent from bulk composite metallurgical testing.
Colossus is especially rich in dysprosium and terbium, renowned heavy magnet metals. The company released a maiden resource for the project in June of 201 million tonnes at a whopping grade of 2590ppm total rare earth oxides (TREO), of which 26 per cent are magnet rare earth oxides (MREO).
More recently, management also released what it referred to as its best results ever from step-out drilling at the Cupin South prospect within the appropriately-named Colossus project. Average widths of 9m from 10 auger holes came in with grades ranging from 5172ppm up to 8221ppm.
Similarly, further results from its northern concessions have come in with widths of 12m to 26m and grades of 3998ppm up to 6393ppm.
The strategic acquisitions revealed today by Viridis simply help to strengthen its position within Brazil’s Poços de Caldas alkaline complex. Together with a monster 200 million-tonne maiden resource and further spectacular drill results, it appears that the company is on the cusp of something special as it works to find the true extent of its total resource.
With assays pending and further drilling expected to be completed in its southern prospects, the next few months may well prove defining for Viridis as it prepares to deliver what could be an impressive resource upgrade.
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