Victory Metals (ASX:VTM) confirms 34sqkm rare earth element footprint at North Stanmore, WA

• Victory Metals (VTM) confirms a 34-square-kilometre rare earth element (REE) footprint at its North Stanmore project in Western Australia
• The company reports the final batch of assays from aircore drilling in the project area and says mineralisation remains open in all directions
• The assays have an average grade of 992 parts per million (ppm) total rare earth oxides (TREO), with the highest grades reaching 10,829 ppm TREO
• With its aircore program now complete, VTM plans to release a maiden REE mineral resource estimate for North Stanmore before the end of June
• VTM shares are down 4.76 per cent and trading at 20 cents at 2:36 pm AEDT

Victory Metals (VTM) has confirmed a 34-square-kilometre rare earth element (REE) footprint at its North Stanmore project in Western Australia.

The company has reported the final batch of assays from aircore drilling in the project area and said mineralisation remained open in all directions

VTM assayed 192 holes across the mineralised area using data sets of one-metre samples.

These samples had an average grade of 992 parts per million total rare earth oxide (TREO) and a “valuable” heavy rare earth oxide to TREO (HREO:TREO) ratio of 34 per cent.

The highest grade of TREO reached 10,829 parts per million, with a 59 per cent heavy rare earth oxide (HREO) ratio.

The company says 87 per cent of the aircore drill holes returned anomalous REE mineralisation.

“Victory is very pleased to report the complete data set for the AC drilling program completed in late 2022, which confirms market-leading average grades of rare earth element mineralisation at North Stanmore,” VTM Executive Director Brendan Clark said.

“The majority of Victory’s anomalous rare earth results are negative cerium-enriched, giving the company great confidence in the metallurgical testwork that is underway, as negative cerium-enriched deposits are typically known to host significant ratios of heavy rare earths and generally achieve high rates of metal recovery.”

While Victory’s latest AC drilling program is now 100 per cent complete, the company’s reverse circulation drilling program results are anticipated to be reported in late April 2023

“With this impressive data set, the company is now able to focus on the initial JORC mineral resource estimate work and metallurgical testwork, which we anticipate will both be reported during Q2, 2023,” Mr Clark said.

VTM shares were down 4.76 per cent and trading at 20 cents at 2:36 pm AEDT.