Rare Earth Elements Update
Sydney, Feb 9, 2021 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Australian Bauxite Limited (
ASX:ABX) (A7B:FRA) is pleased to report on early results from an exploration project carried out over the last 15 months involving rare earth elements (REE) that occur within the ABx bauxite horizon. Assaying is by the NATA-registered ALS commercial laboratory, Brisbane.
This exploration project was undertaken despite the difficult pandemic year and major results are:
- Clays at Binjour bauxite deposit in QLD were found to contain soluble REE and ABx's exploration technology was used to identify other REE prospects in Eastern Australia
- Two Tasmanian prospects, DL130 and Fingal Rail, were identified and REE assay results for 26 random drillhole samples have shown that DL130 is enriched
- The DL130 prospect returned REE values that averaged six times higher grade than both the Binjour clays and from the Fingal Rail project, indicating a different origin of the REE at DL130
- Enriched zones at DL130 are 4 to 18 metres thick and extend with good continuity over distances exceeding 1 kilometre. Best results at DL130 came from a specific rock unit and mineralisation is relatively enriched in light rare earth elements (LREE) - see Tables 1 & 2*.
- ABx has identified more than 4,500 metres of samples that warrant REE assessment
- The solubility and ease of concentration of ABx's REE mineralisation is being assessed at ABx's bauxite research laboratory in Launceston, and concentrates will be tested at the Alcore Research Centre in Central Coast NSW using Alcore's fluorine chemical technologies
- Early testwork indicates that this type of REE mineralisation leaches in weak mineral acids and the grades were upgraded by 172% on average in a single pass - see Tables 1 & 2*.
- Like all ABx bauxites, deleterious elements, including uranium and thorium, are usually low
ABx Exploration Manager, Paul Glover commented; "ABx's exploration technology was reinvigorated in mid 2020 while pandemic regulations restricted our field work. Within a year, we found REE enrichment in a widespread rock unit at the DL130 Project, and early testwork indications are that the rare earth elements are easily leached and could be concentrated at low cost, with no deleterious elements.
"We have also adjusted the exploration technology to start exploring for zones with enriched scandium grades that may be important for some bauxite customers."
*To view tables and figures, please visit:
https://abnnewswire.net/lnk/W973Y900
About ABx Group Limited
ABx Group Limited (ABx) (ASX:ABX) started as a bauxite miner in Tasmania in 2014 & controls the Eastern Australian Bauxite Province. In 2020 to 2023, ABx also discovered Australia’s only true ionic adsorption clay Rare Earth Elements resource at Deep Leads in pine plantations 40km west of Launceston with a JORC-compliant resource of 89 million tonnes from only 29% of the mineralised outline, averaging 844 ppm total rare earth oxides that is the most enriched in the critically important rare earths, Dy and Tb, of any Australian REE deposit.
ABx has also developed a proprietary technology to produce fluorine chemicals from an aluminium smelter waste product and return the fluorine back into the smelters, thus reducing reliance on imported aluminium fluoride.
ABx has committed a large proportion of its expenditure into Research and Development and has found ways to capitalise on the main strengths of its bauxite type which is very clean, free of all deleterious elements and can be separated into different product streams using physical, chemical and geophysical methods. It has produced and marketed specialist bauxite products for the manufacturers of fertiliser, cement with high late strength for major infrastructure such as bridges and is in the advanced stages of approvals for production of metallurgical bauxite from its Binjour Bauxite deposit with JORC-compliant resources of 37 million tonnes of bauxite, in a joint development with a Chinese-focussed Australian trading company Good Importing International.
ABx is also preparing to produce fertiliser grade and cement grade bauxite from its DL130 bauxite quarry in northern Tasmania, 40km west of Launceston. This quarry is sited in the middle of the large Deep Leads REE deposit and may one day be a site for heap leaching of the REE using a low-cost, benign leachate with the same acidity as apple juice or tea.
ABx endorses best practices on agricultural land, strives to leave land and environment better than we find it. We only operate where welcomed.
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