Peak Rare Earths Limited (ASX: PEK) has announced encouraging preliminary results from its 2023 exploration program at the Ngualla Carbonatite Complex, indicating significant potential for multi-commodity mineralization in the Northern and Breccia Zones.
The company completed drilling 57 holes over a span of 4,190 meters, with the majority (3,979m) being Reverse Circulation (RC) drilling and the remainder (211m) Diamond Drilling (DD).
The exploration focussed on the Northern Zone and the Breccia Zone, located approximately 2 kilometers north and northeast of the Bastnaesite Zone, the primary area for the Ngualla Rare Earth Project’s Ore Reserves and Mineral Resources.
Initial assays from 13 RC holes in the Northern Zone have revealed widespread and shallow mineralization of niobium, phosphate, and rare earths, including high concentrations of niobium and phosphate in several holes, as well as a significant presence of heavy rare earth elements like dysprosium and terbium.
Bardin Davis, CEO of Peak, expressed optimism about the findings: “These results reinforce our belief in the Ngualla Deposit’s world-class status and its potential to sustain a multi-generational and multi-commodity mining project. The discovery of extensive mineralization in the Northern Zone’s outer region is particularly exciting, and we are eagerly anticipating further results from key targets.”
The exploration program aimed to expand knowledge of the Ngualla carbonatite complex’s potential beyond its central rare earth zone. Notably, the existing Special Mining License (SML) for the Ngualla Project covers any other minerals found in association with rare earth elements.
Assays have shown that niobium, phosphate, and rare earth mineralization in the Northern Zone are broadly coincident, occurring in transported iron-rich sediments and a residual apatite-magnetite unit.
Furthermore, the mineralization of these elements is associated with low levels of radionuclides and heavy metals, an advantageous factor given the global constraints many phosphate and niobium projects face due to high levels of these elements.
Peak is now awaiting results from an additional 33 RC holes in the Northern Zone, including several high-priority targets.
A final batch of samples, including core from two diamond drill holes in the Breccia Zone, is being prepared for dispatch to Perth for assay, with results expected early in the new year.
The promising findings from the Northern Zone, particularly the higher basket value of rare earths compared to the Bastnaesite Zone, position Peak Rare Earths at the forefront of developing a significant multi-commodity resource in Tanzania.
The Ngualla Rare Hearts Project
The Ngualla Project is a world-class rare earth development located near the Ngwala Village and approximately 150km from the City of Mbeya in the Songwe Region in Western Tanzania and on the edge of the East African Rift Valley.
The project entails the construction of a mine, mill, concentrator, community projects and associated infrastructure
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