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- Two AC rigs active at Aileron in planned 70,000m drill program
- 30,000m of infill drilling at Green targeting an MRE upgrade
- 40,000m regional exploration drilling targeting further discoveries
- Multi-purpose diamond/mud-rotary rig to be mobilised to site in Q3
Encounter Resources (ASX: ENR) has revealed plans to have three drill rigs in action by the end of the third quarter at the Aileron project in the West Arunta region of WA.
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The company currently has two drill rigs operating at Aileron as part of a 70,000m exploration and pre-development drilling program.
One rig is focussed on infill of potential high-grade starter pit locations at Green and the other is drilling priority new targets.
Chairman, Will Robinson, says a third rig will be mobilised to site in the coming months to support pre-development activities including geotechnical drilling, hydrogeological drilling and metallurgical sample drilling.
“The company is continuing to build strong momentum at the Aileron niobium-REE project. In recent months Encounter has increased its resource base by more than 50%, demonstrated strong metallurgical results at Green and executed a partnership agreement to help foster expansion of the growing niobium oxide industry,” Mr Robinson said.
“Encounter currently has two rigs delivering high-impact drill programs at Aileron, to upgrade the existing MRE at Green and targeting new discoveries across our highly prospective tenure position.
“In parallel, we are progressing the technical, environmental and permitting workstreams required to support future development of Aileron. An initial baseline study identified the optimal location for processing infrastructure and a mining lease has been applied for over this area.
“We continue to have positive engagement with multiple government bodies and traditional owner groups around the advancement of Aileron and the West Arunta region.”
In April 2026 the company announced an updated mineral resource estimate (MRE) with the combined inferred MRE increasing by 54% to 120 million tonnes (Mt) at 0.77% Nb2O5 and 26 Mt at 1.7% Nb2O5.
This was the result of a single season of drilling following the Company’s maiden MRE at Aileron released in May 20252.
In May 2026, the company provided an update on its metallurgical progress at Green which demonstrated strong recoveries at high concentrate grades on multiple composites representing sections of the anticipated starter pits.
Following these positive developments the company has determined a conceptual site layout for potential future mining and processing operations and applied for a mining lease.
ENR is up 5.88% to 27.0¢. Mkt cap $142.6M.
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