- WA1 Resources (WA1) discovers another niobium-rare earth element (REE) mineralised carbonatite system at its West Arunta project in Western Australia
- This second discovery has been made through drilling at the three-kilometre-long Luni target and follows an initial niobium-REE discovery at the P2 target last month
- All three holes at Luni encountered high-grade niobium and anomalous rare earths, with results of four metres at 2.88 per cent niobium, 0.68 per cent TREO and 10.7 per cent phosphorus
- The company says this is an “incredible outcome”, and it’s planning follow-up exploration and drilling in the new year
- WA1 Resources has since requested a voluntary suspension of its shares ahead of a capital raise. The company last traded at $1.77 per share on Friday, November 11
WA1 Resources (WA1) has discovered a second niobium-rare earth element (REE) mineralised carbonatite system at its West Arunta project in Western Australia.
The discovery comes from a maiden drilling program completed at West Arunta in August.
The seven-hole program tested the Luni target at the Sambhar prospect and the P1 and P2 target zones at the Pachpadra prospect, with the first discovery made at P2 in October.
All three drill holes at the three-kilometre-long Luni target have encountered high-grade niobium and anomalous rare earths, confirming a second discovery.
Highlighted results from the Luni target include 136 metres at 0.4 per cent niobium, 0.17 per cent total rare earth oxide (TREO), 3.9 per cent phosphorus from 28 metres, including four metres at 2.88 per cent niobium, 0.68 per cent TREO and 10.7 per cent phosphorus from 32 metres.
“It’s an incredible outcome to have discovered two high-grade mineralised carbonatite
systems with our first drill program in the West Arunta,” WA1 Managing Director Paul Savich said.
“The confirmation of high niobium grades in the near-surface oxide material is also an
exciting development as it opens up the potential for mineralisation to be present in both
supergene and primary zones.”
In addition to Luni, the three holes drilled at the P1 target intersected a “major ironstone-magnetite-rich” unit with subtle anomalism. The company plans to further explore the P1 target to better understand its potential.
WA1 Resources has now received all four-metre composite results from its maiden drilling program, with results from single-metre splits from P2 and Luni expected during December.
The company will conduct follow-up surveys and review the assays to help design its next drilling program in 2023.
Following this morning’s announcement, WA1 went into a voluntary suspension and said it expected to resume trading by Monday, November 21. The company said the voluntary suspension would enable it to undertake a capital raise.
WA1 shares last traded at $1.77 each on Friday, November 11.