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- Petratherm (PTR) discovers a new “major” rare earth element (REE) prospect at its Comet project in the Northern Gawler Craton of South Australia
- Drilling at the project delineated a major REE occurrence, dubbed the Artemis prospect, less than 15 kilometres southeast of the company’s Meteor prospect
- The new prospect covers a 1.5-kilometre-by-800 metre area and is open laterally in all directions
- CEO Peter Reid says it is encouraging to see PTR’s exploration models generating positive drill results, and these models will be applied to the remainder of the area
- PTR shares are up 6.06 per cent and trading at 7 cents at 12:33 pm AEDT
Petratherm (PTR) has discovered a new “major” rare earth element (REE) prospect at its Comet project in the Northern Gawler Craton of South Australia.
Drilling at the project delineated a major REE occurrence, dubbed the Artemis prospect, less than 15 kilometres southeast of the company’s Meteor prospect.
All but one of the 21 drill holes completed at Artemis returned significant mineralised REE
intercepts. Three-metre composite drill samples were assayed and grades up to 2542 parts per million (ppm) total rare earth oxide (TREO) were reported.
Additionally, at the western part of the prospect area, a 300-metre-long drill traverse demonstrated the presence of a continuous, open-ended mineralised zone with TREO intercepts greater than 1000 ppm over 12 and 27 metres, starting from nine to 15 metres below surface.
Considering the results, Petratherm CEO Peter Reid said the Artemis prospect showed good upside potential.
“This new rare earth find highlights the fertility of the company’s Comet project area and compliments Petratherm’s high-quality and emerging Meteor rare earth prospect nearby,” Mr Reid said.
“Importantly, the mineralisation is associated with specific rare earth enriched basement rock, and further potential exists for new finds not only within the clay-dominated weathering profile but also in the fresh basement rock below.”
Moreover, Mr Reid said it was encouraging to see the company’s exploration models generating positive drill data and, as such, these models would be applied to the remainder of the project area, 90 per cent of which was yet to be explored for REE mineralisation.
“The potential for additional discoveries by the team at Petratherm puts the company in an exciting and enviable position,” the CEO said.
PTR shares were up 6.06 per cent and trading at 7 cents at 12:33 pm AEDT.
