Hastings Technology Metals Ltd.: High Neodymium Praseodymium Ore Grade at New Targets
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HIGHLIGHTS
- Assay results received from the Company's major 2017 drilling programme include those from two new targets - Yangibana and Simon's Find
- Best intersections at Yangibana include:-
3m at 3.23%TREO including 1.60%Nd2O3+Pr6O11
4m at 1.94%TREO including 0.93%Nd2O3+Pr6O11
4m at 1.43%TREO including 0.69%Nd2O3+Pr6O11, and
4m at 1.31%TREO including 0.61%Nd2O3+Pr6O11
- Best intersections at Simon's Find include:-
3m at 1.10%TREO including 0.63%Nd2O3+Pr6O11, and
2m at 1.11%TREO including 0.61%Nd2O3+Pr6O11
- Both targets host mineralisation with high Nd2O3+Pr6O11:TREO ratios of 44-51% and up to 52-57% respectively
- Simon's Find assays also indicate significant niobium grades with best intersections including:-
12m at 2.24%Nb2O5, and
5m at 1.88%Nb2O5
INTRODUCTION
Both have very high ratios of Nd2O3+Pr6O11:TREO. Neodymium and praseodymium are the primary rare earths of Hastings and these are significant discoveries.
The Yangibana prospect (see Figure 1 in the link below) lies within Mining Lease M09/165 and was briefly drill-tested in 2015. Subsequent mapping and rock chip sampling established the potential for economic rare earths mineralisation over approximately 2.0km of strikelength within the ML, despite the narrow width of the structure at surface.
111 reverse circulation (RC) holes (6,500m) and 3 diamond drillholes (249.4m) were drilled during the recent programme, testing 1.95km of strikelength of discontinuously outcropping ironstone (see Figure 2 in the link below).
Selected results from the RC drilling at Yangibana are shown in Table 1 (see link below) and confirm the high Nd2O3+Pr6O11:TREO ratio of between 44% and 51%.
Drillhole parameters are provided in Appendix 1 (see link below)and detailed assays are provided in Appendix 5 (see link below).
Simon's Find Prospect
Simon's Find prospect (see Figure 1 in the link below) covers a discontinuously outcropping ironstone unit within Exploration Licences E09/2018, E09/2129 and E09/1943 that extends over 2km between the Bald Hill Southeast JORC resource within M09/157 to the north and the Fraser's North JORC resource within M09/158 to the south.
Previous mapping and rock chip sampling identified this as another potential target for high Nd2O3+Pr6O11:TREO mineralisation, albeit with narrow width at surface.
70 reverse circulation holes (2,895m) and 4 diamond drillholes (263.6m) were drilled during the recent programme, testing some 2.35km of strikelength of discontinuously outcropping ironstone (see Figure 3 in the link below).
Selected results from Simon's Find drilling are shown in Table 2 (see link below).
Significantly, the mineralisation at Simon's Find has the highest ratio of Nd2O3+Pr6O11:TREO of all deposits and prospects identified to date over the Yangibana Project, ranging from 52% to 57%.
The Simon's Find drilling also returned high grade niobium results associated with and adjacent to the rare earths mineralisation, but over wider mineralised intervals including those shown in Table 3 (see link below).
Drillhole parameters are provided in Appendix 2 (see link below) and detailed assays are provided in Appendix 6 (see link below).
Yangibana North
Hastings also recently completed a twelve-hole infill drilling programme into the shallow portion of the Yangibana North deposit (Hastings 70%) to provide samples for metallurgical testwork. Best results from this drilling are shown in Table 4 (see link below). The Nd2O3+Pr6O11:TREO ratio at Yangibana North ranges from 25% and 31%.
Drillhole parameters are provided in Appendix 3 (see link below) and detailed assays are provided in Appendix 7 (see link below).
Auer
Results from eight RC holes drilled into the northern extension of the Auer deposit. High grade results were returned from this new target as shown in Table 5 (see link below), with Nd2O3+Pr6O11:TREO ratios of between 33% and 48%.
Drillhole parameters are provided in Appendix 4 (see link below) and detailed assays are provided in Appendix 8 (see link below).
Drilling is ongoing at Auer and Auer North.
Bald Hill
Final assays have been received from the 2017 reverse circulation drilling programme at Bald Hill. Hole BHRC325 returned an intersection of 10m (83-93m) at 1.11% TREO including 0.43% Nd2O3+Pr6O11. This hole is the south-westernmost hole drilled at Bald Hill to date and indicates that this mineralisation remains strongly open to the southwest.
TERMINOLOGY USED IN THIS REPORT
TREO is the sum of the oxides of the light rare earth elements lanthanum (La), cerium (Ce), praseodymium (Pr), neodymium (Nd), and samarium (Sm) and the heavy rare earth elements europium (Eu), gadolinium (Gd), terbium (Tb), dysprosium (Dy), holmium (Ho), erbium (Er), thulium (Tm), ytterbium (Yb), lutetium (Lu), and yttrium (Y).
To view tables and figures, please visit:
http://abnnewswire.net/lnk/6498WF7T
About Hastings Technology Metals Ltd:
Hastings Technology Metals Ltd. (ASX:HAS) (FRA:5AM) is currently developing a rare earths mine and processing plant at Yangibana in the Gascoyne Region of Western Australia. The processing plant is anticipated to commence production of MREC in 2H 2019. Hastings has completed both beneficiation and hydrometallurgy pilot plants, in the process producing MREC samples which are high in neodymium and praseodymium content. These are critical materials for the production of permanent magnets and other technology applications. The MREC will be capable of being further refined and treated to produce a number of separated rare earth oxides outside of Australia. Hastings estimates an annual production quantity of 15,000 tonnes of MREC, which it will sell to offtake partners.
The Yangibana Project hosts JORC Resources totalling 17.02 million tonnes at 1.27% TREO (comprising Measured Resources of 2.92 million tonnes at 1.04% TREO, Indicated Resources of 7.19 million tonnes at 1.43% TREO and Inferred Resources of 6.90 million tonnes at 1.21% TREO), including 0.41% Nd2O3+Pr6O11.
Contact:
Hastings Technology Metals Ltd.
Andy Border General Manager Exploration
T: +61-2-8268-8689
Charles Tan Chief Operating Officer
T: +61-457-853-839