Recent Discoveries in the Rare Earths Sector

Rare Earth Deposits & Mining / Rare Earth Exploration, Mining, Processing, & Uses

Date posted: 03/14/15

Teresa Matich reports that lately there have been several new discoveries of rare earths mineralization, and at least one company has expanded mineralization at its project through additional drilling. The news is encouraging in that while rare earths are not actually very rare in terms of distribution in the Earth crust, it is difficult to find deposits that are economically mineable. Search Minerals reported a new rare earths discovery in the Port Hope Simpson REE district in Labrador. It is the second REE discovery in the area, with the first being the Foxtrot deposit. So far the new prospect, called Deepwater Fox, has the potential to be wider than Foxtrot, and could be up to 500 meters long and 34 meters wide. The company has noted that assay results are generally higher than any of those at Foxtrot. Assay highlights include - - 5.96 meters of 1,433 ppm yttrium, 2,156 ppm neodymium, 48 ppm terbium and 286 ppm dysprosium - 17.5 meters of 1,284 ppm yttrium, 1,893 ppm neodymium, 41 ppm terbium and 241 ppm dysprosium Ucore Rare Metals reported a respectable expansion to the mineralization at its Bokan-Dotson Ridge project in Alaska. The company conducted a 17-hole drill program at Bokan in 2014, and five of those holes were aimed at testing for mineralization at depths greater than the existing deposit. The results came up positive, as all five holes intersected mineralization an average of 100 meters below all previous drill intersections. Currently, the average depth of the resource at Bokan is about 220 meters. The grade and rare earth content of those results is consistent with the existing resource, adding further weight to the potential for significant resource expansion at Bokan. US-based private company RioSol and its Peruvian arm, Compania Minera Rio Sol, announced a huge rare earths discovery in Peru last month. Capacscaya contains both light - and heavy rare earth elements and metals, as well as copper, zinc, cobalt, etc., and outside of China.