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Perpetual Resources (ASX:PEC) has confirmed its Raptor project is built around ionic absorption clay rare earth elements mineralisation, with achievable recoveries of up to 94% in magnetic REEs – containing neodymium-praseodymium-terbium-dysprosium.
The discovery at the Brazillian project was made through metallurgical test work, which showed all four of these rare earth elements could be recovered at high values – and across all prospects – in unoptimised conditions.
Early-stage metallurgical work was conducted by the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), on nine composite samples aimed at representing intercepts from shallow auger drilling at the project.
All nine samples confirmed the presence of IAC REE mineralisation, with extremely high recoveries. Results included two metres – five metres, three metres composite head grade 5,327 parts per million TREO (total rare earth oxides) including 1,327 ppm magnetic rare earth oxides with 94% recovery.
Other results included six metres – nine metres, three metres composite head grade 5,362 ppm TREO including 1,802 ppm MREO with 84% recovery.
Notably, the metallurgical features at Raptor have appeared similar to a nearby project operated by Meteoric Resources (ASX:MEI), which hosts a JORC Mineral Resource Estimate of 545 million tonnes at 2,561 ppm.
Follow-up work programs are planned to build on these results, the company said.
PEC shares jumped following the news and at 2:20pm the company was trading at 1.4 cents – a rise of 3.57% since the market opened.
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