Surefire Resources has confirmed the presence of rare earths and kaolin at its Perenjori iron ore project following positive results from a reconnaissance rock chip campaign near recently discovered pegmatites.
The anomalous rare earths mineralisation occurs close to the eastern boundary of the tenement hosting the Perenjori iron deposit prompting the explorer to apply for an additional exploration licence contiguous with the site to the east.
The company says the pegmatite samples showed significant anomalous results with a maximum of 345 parts-per-million total rare earth oxides, or “TREO” whilst additional sampling in the area also returned anomalous TREO grades.
The pegmatites were discovered on the eastern edge of a kaolinised sheared granite contact between the Perenjori deposit and an intruded granite stock to the east. Surefire says the results indicate either the pegmatites within the granitoid, the sheared kaolinised granite/sediment contact zone, or all the above contain rare earth elements.
The south-eastern area of the tenement hosts an historical kaolin occurrence whilst additional appearances were highlighted during the recent reconnaissance field trip.
Surefire is already planning a significant exploration campaign at the site that will include a geographical information system review of aeromagnetic imagery, detailed geological mapping, local geochemistry in addition to shallow drill testing to test the pegmatites and kaolin targets.
The company is also finalising a comprehensive environmental survey in order to obtain a program of work to conduct a planned 6000m infill RC campaign at Perenjori with the report due next month. The drill program will assist with a potential resource upgrade and economic prefeasibility study.
In February last year Surefire announced a significant iron exploration target that ranges from 870 million to 1240m tonnes at the project with grading between 29 to 41 per cent iron.
The exploration target is held entirely within the company’s existing 191.7 million tonne inferred mineral resource that grades 36.6 per cent iron, implying an updated resource estimate would have huge upside.
Surefire believes Perenjori has world-class infrastructure at its doorstep, with the Morawa-Perenjori rail line and the Karara rail spur both sitting a mere 15 kilometres away. The project also has access to the Geraldton port, that lies close to 220 kilometres away by rail. The company says the favourable position of the project permits a wealth of transportation options for the ore including trucking the material using the existing rail lines or building a spur line to the deposit.
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By Matt Birney
