Mining

Dreadnought Resources announces 14.36Mt Yin resource within Mangaroon rare earths project

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By Imelda Cotton - 
Dreadnought Resources ASX DRE TREO rare earth elements Yin Ironstone Complex Mangaroon Gascoyne Region Western Australia

Dreadnought managing director Dean Tuck says the maiden resource lays the foundation for “significant” growth.

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Dreadnought Resources (ASX: DRE) has released an initial inferred resource of 14.36 million tonnes at 1.13% total rare earth oxides (TREO) for a 3 kilometre section of the 30km-long Yin rare earth elements ironstone complex at its wholly-owned Mangaroon project in Western Australia.

The resource is based on reverse circulation drilling comprising 117 holes for a total 11,907m between June and August.

The robust nature of the resource is believed to be demonstrated by contained neodymium and praseodymium at various cut-off grades, with the lowest grade (0.20% TREO) being similar to the cut-off used at the nearby advanced-stage Yangibana project.

The resource covers approximately 10% of Yin and does not include the Sabre or Y8 ironstone discoveries or any of the C1-to-C7 carbonatites.

High-grade foundation

Managing director Dean Tuck said the new resource provides a significant high-grade foundation for future growth.

“This substantial initial resource over just 3km of Yin paves the way for significant resource growth drilling over the coming year,” he said.

“The resource confirms Yin as a high-grade and high resource-intensity deposit — which are both material factors in a mining project’s economics — it also has some of the highest neodymium-praseodymium:TREO ratios in the world.”

New year programs

Mr Tuck said approvals were in place to commence drilling programs along strike from Yin and Sabre in the new year.

Drilling is expected to deliver additional resources and upgrades along the ironstone complex.

Approvals are also in place to drill at the C1-to-C6 carbonatites starting in March.

Assays from initial drilling at Sabre, Y8 and the C1-to-C5 carbonatites are expected by end February.

Mangaroon Zone

The Mangaroon project covers approximately 5,300 square kilometres of the Mangaroon Zone in WA’s Gascoyne region.

Part of the project is targeting nickel-copper-PGE (platinum group elements) and is subject to a 70% earn-in deal with Canadian mining company First Quantum Minerals.

The region is host to high-grade gold mineralisation at the Bangemall/Cobra and Star of Mangaroon gold mining centres and the Yangibana rare earth deposits which have high neodymium-praseodymium:TREO ratios.

Dreadnought has identified outcropping high-grade gold-bearing quartz veins along the Edmund and Minga Bar Faults; outcropping high-grade rare earth ironstones (similar to those under development at Yangibana); and outcropping high-tenor nickel-copper-PGE blebby sulphides at the recently-defined Money Intrusion.