Viridis banks extraordinary rare earths drill hits in Brazil

Viridis Mining and Metals has nailed some bonanza drill hits, its best yet, at the company’s Colossus clay rare earths project in Brazil with a stunning 50m headline intersection going a whopping 8462 ppm total rare earth oxides – and that ended in mineralisation of 3848ppm TREO and started at surface.

Included in that intersection was a stellar 14m hit going 15,941ppm TREO.

The intersection also showed signs of high-value dysprosium and terbium magnetic rare earth oxides running at 58ppm from surface.

Multiple intersections more than 20m in thickness and 4000ppm TREO were uncovered during the latest drilling campaign, setting up what could be a huge resource upgrade for Viridis’ Southern complex.

The company has received its twelfth batch of assays from a deep drilling program at the aptly named Colossus project, which sits in the renowned Minas Gerais mining region in Brazil.

The drilling was conducted in the eastern half of Cupim South, which is shaping up as the prime piece of ground within the project site.

The Southern complex comprises Cupim South and the Centro Sul prospect, with the latest drill program continuing the thick high-grade results with multiple hits greater than 20m and extending the more than 4000ppm zone of mineralised trend along Cupim South.

It also delivered a series of further outstanding magnetic rare earth oxide results, with hits of 42m running 4020ppm from surface including 12m at 7260ppm TREO with 48 per cent magnetic rare earths and 145ppm dysprosium-terbium oxides.

A further 20m going 4402ppm TREO from 2m included an 8m section at 7204ppm TREO with 29per cent of the more lucrative magnet rare earths

A high-grade 8m slice at 8571ppm TREO from surface also included 6m at 9146ppm TREO that consisted of 35 per cent magnet rare earths and again included the higher value dysprosium-terbium oxides.

The assays comprised the remaining 25 per cent of results that remained outstanding from the RC program undertaken at the eastern end of Cupim South and systematic drilling at Centro Sul.

Viridis’ management believes the drill results can provide a substantial increase to the current Cupim South resource and help develop the company’s plans for a long-life, high-grade mining operation at the southern section of the project, which already possesses a mining licence.

The impressively thick 50m hit was drilled in the central eastern portion of Cupim South and remains open in multiple directions.

Notably, the two closest holes to the standout 50m whopper were auger-drilled to only shallow depths.

The company believes there is tremendous upside to encounter further mineralisation with drilling to similar depths and grades as its headline hit and to potentially reveal a high-grade pocket of mineralised ground in the central eastern section at Cupim South.

What an exceptional set of results to finish off the drilling program for our much-anticipated resource update. The assay results from the past few months have remarkably gone from strength-to-strength and delineated an expansive corridor of high-grade rare earth mineralisation that will form the foundation of a valuable mine plan.

The Centro Sul prospect has a deeper level of material cover with RC drilling grades improving at depth providing significant upside as drilling continues across the site, with only 24 per cent of Centro Sul’s license area tested so far.

The best result at Centro Sul produced 18m going 5490ppm TREO from 14m and included an 8m section grading 6978ppm TREO with 31 per cent magnet rare earths including dysprosium and terbium.

Viridis says there is sufficient drilling at the prospect for an initial resource to be compiled along with Cupim South’s upgrade and has engaged its consultant firm to begin work on the upgrades.

It is expecting results shortly from test work to produce a mixed rare earth carbonate from the Southern complex at the project, with leading nuclear science and technology firm ANSTO working on optimising recovery levels from the ore.

Following successful ionic-leach testing, the company is expecting excellent recoveries using the same proven flowsheet used for its “world-leading” Northern concessions ground and hopes the tests will provide comparable or superior results.

Management says when the mixed rare earth carbonate and resource upgrade work is completed, it will start mine-planning to target high-grade mineralised areas in both the Northern and Southern Concessions and then finalise a scoping study for Colossus.

The market will no doubt be keenly watching for the resource upgrades to get a handle on just how big Colossus is likely to become in comparison to market-leading rare earth projects out there – one thing seems likely though – it is going to be big.

Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@wanews.com.au