Highlights
- Godolphin has signed a farm-in and joint venture agreement to earn up to a 75% interest in the Narraburra Rare Earth Element Project
- Narraburra is located in the central west of NSW, host to Australia’s most advanced Zirconium, Rare Earth Element and Rare Metals project, the Dubbo Project of Australian Strategic Materials
- Project is listed as a critical minerals project by the Australian Government’s Australian Trade and Investment Commission
- Godolphin undertook a highly successful 31 diamond core drillhole campaign - the results of which were used in a major upgrade of the historical Mineral Resource Estimate to JORC (2012)
- pXRF readings taken during drilling indicate rare metal mineralisation is possibly present in underlying fresh rock, untested by historical drilling, as well as occurring in the weathered surficial material
- Maiden (JORC 2012) Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) completed for Narraburra Rare Earth Element Project of 94.9Mt @ 739ppm TREO, including a high grade core of:
- 20Mt @ 1,079ppm TREO using a 600ppm cutoff within the Indicated Resource
- Significant improvements to the Narraburra Mineral Resource Estimate include:
- 126% uplift to TREO grade
- Indicated Resource now at 50%, not defined previously
- 30% increase to tonnage from previous JORC 2004 Mineral Resource Estimate
- Considerable increase in grade and size highlights Project potential and GRL’s opportunity to unlock value through ongoing exploration and Project development
- High grade core to the MRE, provides focus for scoping study to evaluate potential for mining and processing material greater then 1000ppm TREO
- Mineralisation remains open in multiple directions – Excellent exploration potential
- Narraburra REE chosen for HyLogger spectral analysis by the Geological Survey of NSW highlighting Narraburra’s considerable potential
- HyLogger results provide more detailed understanding of the distribution of REE mineralisation
- Higher levels of REE in shallower highly weathered material also provide potential for low mining cost near-term extraction opportunities
- QEMSCAN (an automated mineralogical analysis technique) mineralogy results also received from ANSTO for six samples from the initial leachability test work
- The model mineralogy results indicate that the most abundant REE-bearing minerals include lanthanite-Nd; cerite-Ce; and microcrystalline REEs
- Liberation statistics indicate that most abundant REE-bearing minerals are moderately liberated, confirming the ready leachability of the kaolinite clay zone – unlocking additional development and processing opportunities
- Metallurgical test work program to provide a better understanding of Narraburra’s REE and Rare Metals composition continues. Current test work underway at ANSTO, to determine optimum extraction pathways and size fraction analysis, is progressing well with results expected shortly. This work will help identify potential processing pathways leading into the commencement of Scoping Studies later in 2023.
Mineral Resource Estimate (JORC 2012)
| JORC Resource class | Tonnes (Mt) | Total REO TREO¹ Total (ppm) | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Indicated | 47.6 50% | 779.86 | |||||||||
| Inferred | 47.4 50% | 697.89 | |||||||||
| Indicated + Inferred | 94.9 | 738.95 | |||||||||
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For full details of MRE, including cut-offs, see ASX announcement dated 19 April 2023.
Diamond drilling
- Godolphin undertook a highly successful 31 diamond core drillhole campaign - the results of which were used in a major upgrade of the historical Mineral Resource Estimate to JORC (2012)
- pXRF readings taken during drilling indicate rare metal mineralisation is possibly present in underlying fresh rock, untested by historical drilling, as well as occurring in the weathered surficial material
- For results of all 31 holes, see ASX announcements dated 11 November 2022, 13 December 2022, 18 January 2023
- Best intercepts from this drilling include:
- GNBDD011 – 3m @ 3,481ppm Total Rare Earth Oxides (“TREO”) from 31m
- GNBDD013 – 1m @ 5,182ppm TREO from 34m
- GNBDD017 – 1m @ 4,760ppm TREO from 26m
- GNBDD022 – 2m @ 4,495ppm TREO from 52m &
– 1m @ 7956ppm TREO, 1,090ppm Nd, 240ppm Pr from 61m
- Significant REE intercepts within the extent of previously identified mineralisation envelope include:
- GNBDD017 – 27.9m @ 1,167ppm TREO from 17m
- GNBDD028 – 28.4m @ 1,233ppm TREO from 20m
- GNBDD025 – 35.5m @ 848ppm TREO from 19m
- GNBDD010 – 27.7m @ 894ppm TREO from 42m
- GNBDD011 – 11m @ 1,686ppm TREO from 11m & 27.4m @ 1426ppm TREO from 26m
- GNBDD013 – 14.7m @ 1,213ppm TREO from 34m
- GNBDD019 – 39.6m @ 645ppm TREO from 3m
- GNBDD024 – 22.1m @ 1,166ppm TREO from 19m
- Significant REE intercepts outside the extent of previously identified mineralisation include:
- GNBDD012 – 21m @ 1,163ppm TREO from 17m
- GNBDD020 – 28.8m @ 788ppm TREO from 4m
- GNBDD022 – 8m @ 1,742ppm TREO from 46m & 8m @ 1,854ppm TREO from 57m
- GNBDD023 – 15m @ 777ppm TREO from 23m
- GNBDD014 – 6.1m @ 1,808ppm TREO from 5m
Background
The Narraburra Rare Earth Element Project is located approximately 340km west of Sydney and 15km north of Temora in central west NSW. The farm-in and joint venture agreement includes two tenements, EL 8420 and EL 9258, and covers a total of 349km². Mineralisation is hosted in a fractionated, peralkaline intrusive complex of Late Devonian age.
Since 1999, there has been considerable exploration work completed on the Project, including airborne magnetic and radiometric surveying, geological mapping, ground radiometric surveying, bedrock geochemical sampling, whole-rock analysis, petrological and mineralogical studies, preliminary metallurgical testing and RC drilling. The programs confirmed significant occurrences of Rare Earth Elements (REE) (oxide is REO) including neodymium (Nd) and praseodymium (Pr) and Rare Metals (RM) including zirconium (Zr), Yttrium (Y), niobium (Nb), hafnium (Hf), gallium (Ga) and lithium (Li). Thorium (Th) is reasonably low.
The Project has a previously reported JORC 2004 compliant Inferred resource, by previous owner Capital Mining Limited (ASX: CMY) not the Company, of 73.2M tonnes at 1250g/t ZrO₂, 327g/t REO, 146g/t Y₂O₃, 126g/t Nb₂O₅, 45g/t HfO₂, 54g/t Ga₂O₃ and 118 g/t Li₂O (refer ASX Announcement: Capital Mining Limited, ASX: CMY 09 December 2011) . It should be noted that the estimate may not conform to the requirements in the JORC Code 2012. The methodology utilised in the previous estimate were appropriate at the time of the estimate and due to the reported wide drill spacing an Inferred resource was reported.
In April 2023 Godolphin announced a major update (JORC 2012) Mineral Resource Estimate completed for Narraburra Rare Earth Element Project of 94.9Mt @ 739ppm Total Rare Earth Oxide (TREO), including a high grade core of 20Mt @ 1,079ppm TREO using a 600ppm cutoff within the Indicated Resource.
Farm-in
Godolphin has entered a two-tranche farm-in and joint venture agreement to earn up to a 75% interest in the Project. The counterparty is EX9 Pty Ltd (“EX9”), a private exploration company.
Under the first tranche, the Company will contribute $1M in expenditure towards the Project within two years, allowing Godolphin to earn a 51% interest in the Project.
Under the second tranche, to earn a total of 75% in the Project Godolphin has agreed to contribute a further $2M within 4 years in exploration and development expenditure.
Effective from the farm-in date, Godolphin and EX9 will associate in an unincorporated joint venture for the purpose of exploring and developing the tenements.