Carbonatite sample
Adobe Stock
The Market Online - At The Bell

Join our daily newsletter At The Bell to receive exclusive market insights

Encounter Resources (ASX:ENR) has reported striking a thick carbonatite target between two known target areas of interest.

Both known target areas – Crean and Hurley – have been recorded as boasting niobium mineralisation, the metal that made WA1 Resources a darling.

Worth noting is that those two targets are 3km apart, indicating a potential large area where Encounter’s drillers will be busy looking for niobium hits in a not-too-distant future.

At last two positive niobium hits were recorded in the latest drilling with an aircore rig; one core sample was the equivalent of 3m width and a second was 5m.

Neither is truly substantial enough to begin shoring up any kind of resource upgrade; these brief pockets of mineralisation were detected from 81m to end of hole and 102m to end of hole, indicating a system that starts around 80-100m – as far as those two drillholes go.

One diamond drill that sunk deeper below that cutoff pulled back core now with assay labs and set for report next month.

“The extremely thick carbonatite that has been drilled at this location supports an interpretation that the Elephant Island Fault corridor is a significant regional scale control for the emplacement of mineralised carbonatites in the West Arunta,” Encounter EC Will Robinson said.

“This has important implications for future exploration along this corridor and other structural corridors across the project area.”

ENR last traded at 53cps.

ENR by the numbers
More From The Market Online
Market Close Graphic

ASX Market Close: Chris Ellison exits MinRes | November 4, 2024

Chris Ellison’s Mineral Resources shed 9.63% after it was dramatically revealed he will exit the business.…
Locked gate concept

State Gas drops 17% as landowner dispute blocks access to Rolleston West site

State Gas has dipped nearly a fifth of its value on Monday following an unfortunate revelation…
The Market Online Video

Strategies for effective portfolio rebalancing: Manage risk and maximise returns

This week on Money & Investing, Mitch Olarenshaw and I discuss portfolio rebalancing, sharing strategies to manage risk, and removing emotion from decision-making.
A coastline in Newfoundland

FireFly expands Green Bay project 54% with project acquisition

FireFly Metals has acquired a land holding in Newfoundland which will add 115 square kilometres to…