Barkly gets green light for 10,000m NT rare earths drilling blitz
Brought to you by BULLS AND BEARS
Murray Region
Barkly Rare Earths has officially received the green light to launch a massive 10,000-metre exploration campaign at the company’s flagship Barkly rare earths project in the Northern Territory after securing its environmental mining licence.
The milestone approval from the Minister of Mining and Energy also gave the company the authority to launch a phase one resource expansion program designed to significantly increase its existing rare earths footprint. This complements the mining license that Barkly already holds.
The boots on the ground will be managed by specialist international fundraising consultants RSC, who have been appointed as program managers to provide expert oversight and quality control.
Barkly’s campaign is a high-impact initiative covering more than 400 shallow holes with an average depth of 25 metres. Mobilization is planned for late May, and drill rods are expected to begin turning in June once ground conditions dry.
The program will test a lateral expansion of the Barkly project’s inferred mineral resource of 40 million tonnes, which currently has a Total Rare Earth Oxide (TREO) rating of 2,100 parts per million for an impressive 82,000 tonnes of TREO.
In particular, the resource is defined within two optimized pit shells where mineralization is open in all directions. The company’s data indicates that the source has the potential to connect across a massive 20-kilometre “Emergency Zone”, offering reality guessers plenty to test in what is shaping up to be a highly potential area.
The drilling strategy will include a combination of reverse circulation (RC) and sonic drilling. While the RC will cover most of the 10,000-meter area using a widely spaced grid of 800 meters by 800 meters, the sonic drill will provide critical dual-hole data.
Management says the dual approach will allow geographies to assess sample quality and collect bulk density measurements. Both are vital requirements for the resource to be upgraded to higher reliability specified and measured categories.
Barkly also plans to use portable X-ray fluorescence machines in the field to obtain real-time, in-action chemistry readings. This informed extra layer of analysis will allow the company to modify and optimize its drilling program on a daily basis, ensuring it is pursuing the best mineralization as results become available.
Although its main focus is on rare earth elements, the company is rapidly continuing its research at the Northern Territory Buntine base metal project. Expedition mapping and boulder sampling were brought forward from May to June.
Buntine covers a 6-mile potential area of rocks similar in age to those that host the world-class lead-zinc deposit of the McArthur River. Three different abnormal regions were detected in previous samples, where lead, cobalt, uranium, tungsten, nickel, zinc and copper were detected.
With environmental approvals now in the bag and RSC’s experts locked in, the company expects drilling rigs in the Northern Territory to be up and running within weeks as it plans to turn the 40 million tonnes rare earth resource into a global scale project.
Being able to get through the regulatory stages so quickly after listing on the ASX just four months ago is a big win for Barkly. With a massive 10,000 meter drilling about to begin, there should be a lot of news flowing on the way.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: mattbirney@bullsnbears.com.au
