- VHM (VHM) expands its rare earth inventory to become one of the largest in Australia, bolstered by its new Cannie critical mineral project in Victoria
- The highlights of VHM’s maiden mineral resource for the project include 192 million tonnes (Mt) at 3.1 per cent total heavy mineral grade, lifting the company’s resource inventory tonnage by 30 per cent to 820Mt
- The company reports that once more drill hole assays are returned, it expects to provide a further resource update for the Cannie project in H2 FY23
- VHM is down 4.71 per cent, trading at 81 cents at 2:19 pm AEST
VHM (VHM) has expanded its rare earth inventory to be one of the largest in Australia, bolstered by its new Cannie critical mineral project in Victoria.
The Cannie project is positioned 13.5 kilometres to the south of VHM’s flagship Goschen rare earth project.
Today the company reported a new inferred mineral resource of 192 million tonnes at 3.1 per cent total heavy mineral (THM) grade, resulting in an additional 5.9 million tonnes of heavy mineral sands in place.
The update brings with it an increase of 176,000 tonnes of rare earth, 1.4 million tonnes of zircon, 0.9 million tonnes of rutile, and 1.4 million tonnes of leucoxene to the company’s mineral inventory.
To date, VHM has identified more than 176,000 tonnes of total rare earth oxides (TREO) at the Cannie project, increasing the company’s total inventory of TREO from 413,000 tonnes to 589,000 tonnes.
The Cannie mineral resource extends 7.2 kilometres north-south and 4.4 kilometres east-west and remains open in all directions.
“The company’s rare earth inventory is now one of the largest in Australia and this is complemented by the significant zircon inventory of 5.1 million tonnes and rutile inventory of 2.7 million tonnes,” VHM Managing Director Graham Howard said.
“We are on track to deliver one of the world’s largest critical mineral deposits which we believe could support several project hubs that once developed feed critical minerals into supply chains to enable decarbonisation of global economies”.
The company announced it would continue to further advance its resource work, and once it has more drill hole assays in hand, expects to provide a further resource update for the Cannie project in the second half of this year.
Cannie, together with the flagship Goschen project and the now emerging Nowie deposit to the north, has confirmed a major new critical minerals province for Victoria stretching over 55 Kilometres.
VHM was down 4.71 per cent, trading at 81 cents at 2:19 pm AEST.