Reach Resources has wound up its RC drilling program at the company’s Wabli Creek project in WA’s Gascoyne region where it searched for the source of niobium and rare earths from recent surface sampling. The company launched its maiden drill program at Wabli Creek on the 4th of October and completed 40 holes for 3013m of drilling, averaging 212m of advance per day at three priority targets.
At a standard sampling rate of one sample per metre drilled, Reach secured a total of 3013 samples for analysis in Perth from its Pelops, Broteas and Amphion targets.
The drilling program was prompted by results from 74 surface samples taken during a recent field campaign which now extends across about half of the 15 sq km project area.That campaign focussed specifically on granite/pegmatite/dyke contact zones and identified extensive areas anomalous in rare earth oxides, with values up to an impressive 7060ppm total rare earth oxides (TREO).
The handful of surface samples was grabbed specifically to refine and further confirm Reach’s understanding of the granite margins and contact zones identified from previous geochemical and geophysical analyses.
The venture successfully returned anomalous rare earths values for the lucrative magnet rare earth elements neodymium and praseodymium and also for niobium and titanium, all well above background values. The results have enhanced Reach’s confidence at Wabli Creek, where the key for exploration has been to understand the geology and to replicate the Pelops prospect, where bedrock chip samples returned assays up to 17.65 per cent niobium pentoxide.
The results have also confirmed niobium and rare earths mineralisation occurs in the alkaline granites and on the contact of the granite with north-south trending pegmatites and/or dykes, providing the company with the final piece of the puzzle it needed to confidently define priority targets for the proposed drilling.
Importantly, by that time, the target areas had already received heritage clearance and could be drilled without delay.
Reach Resources chief executive officer Jeremy Bower said: “We eagerly await the assay results from our maiden drill program. Significant work was completed to identify the drill target areas based on high grade surface mineralisation and the geochemical differences between the rock associations. The geological team has done a fantastic job with a focus on intersecting target rocks that we hope will contain the mineralisation observed at surface.”
Niobium kicked the door in at the ASX when WA1 Resources struck the steel strengthening and superconducting critical metal at its Arunta project in WA a couple of years ago.
That discovery of a niobium-rare earths mineralised carbonatite caused WA1 Resources to explode from 14c in October 2022 to a whopping $22.50 a share in May 2024 before settling back to around $13, representing a ridiculous 15,900 per cent return for punters who managed to pick the peak and the trough.
Since then, niobium has sparked something of a gold rush of sorts as multiple ASX-listed companies continue to try their luck.
Reach is amongst the vanguard of those companies with plenty of early signs of niobium mineralisation at its Wabli Creek critical elements project and carbonatites at its Skyline project, so its latest round of drilling results will no doubt be highly anticipated by the market.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@businessnews.com.au
By Doug Bright
