Highlights
- 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
- Godolphin’s 100%-owned Narraburra Project covers 504km² and is made up of tenements EL8420 and EL9258, along with recently granted EL9628 Trungley and EL9601 Cambrai
- 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)
- 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 future studies to evaluate potential for mining and processing material greater then 1000ppm TREO
- Mineralisation remains open in multiple directions – Excellent exploration potential
- Airborne electromagnetic survey undertaken by the NSW Government’s Resources and Geosciences department, under the Critical Minerals and High-Tech Metals Strategy, directly maps conductive clays hosting the Narraburra Rare Earth Elements (‘REE’) mineralisation (ASX release dated 23 July 2024)
- This large clay Basin suggests significant Resource Expansion Potential over a 25km strike length up to 4km wide and overlaps mapped A-Type Granites interpreted to be the source of the Narraburra REE mineralisation. These areas yet to be drill tested.
- Two highly prospective drill targets have been delineated from the AEM and follow up drill programs are now being designed
- Future mineral resource extension and exploration activities will be concentrated within this highly prospective zone
- Several phases of metallurgical testing by ANSTO demonstrates excellent extraction rates of Rare Earth Elements (REE) from composite samples representative of mining intervals
- 80–95% extraction of key magnet REEs (Nd, Pr, Tb, Dy) with best results of Nd 96%, Pr 92%, Tb 91% and Dy 93% – confirming Project’s development potential
- Significant increase of REE extraction at 50°C for all clay-rich samples compared to 30°C announced previously
- Process Development Testing (phase three metallurgical test work program) is underway, including production of a Mixed Rare Earth Carbonate (MREC) product
- In December 2024, significant progress on Narraburra REE Project with production of second, cleaner Mixed Rare Earth Carbonate (MREC). The new MREC product (MREC-2) will further support industry engagement with potential off take partners for the Narraburra Project. (ASX release dated 10 December 2024)
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. It is comprised of two tenements, EL 8420 and EL 9258, along with tenements EL 9628 and EL9258 for a total project area of 571km². 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.