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Murray Ward
Barkly Rare Earths has officially received the green light to kick off a massive 10,000-metre exploration campaign at the company’s flagship Barkly rare earths project in the Northern Territory after being granted its environmental mining licence.
The milestone approval from the Minister for Mining and Energy has also provided the company with the essential notice of authority to kick off a phase one resource extension program designed to significantly grow its existing rare earths footprint. This complements an existing deemed mining licence already held by Barkly.
Boots-on-the-ground will be led by specialist international resource development consultants RSC, which has been appointed as the program manager to provide expert oversight and quality control.
Barkly’s campaign is a high-impact initiative comprising more than 400 shallow holes with an average depth of 25 metres. Mobilisation is slated for late May, with the drill rods expected to start turning in June once ground conditions dry out.
The program will test for a lateral expansion to the Barkly project’s inferred mineral resource, which currently stands at 40 million tonnes grading 2100 parts per million Total Rare Earth Oxide (TREO) for an impressive 82000 tonnes of contained TREO.
Notably, the resource has been defined within two optimised pit shells, with mineralisation open in all directions. The company’s data suggests there is the potential for the resource to connect across a whopping 20-kilometre “Immediate Zone”, handing the truth diviner plenty to test in what is shaping up as a highly prospective area.
The drilling strategy will include a combination of reverse circulation (RC) and sonic drilling. While RC will cover the bulk of the 10,000 metres using a wide-spaced 800-metre by 800-metre grid, the sonic drill will provide critical twin-hole data.
Management says the dual approach will allow the geos to evaluate sample quality and collect bulk density measurements. Both are vital requirements for eventually upgrading the resource to the higher-confidence indicated and measured categories.
Barkly also plans to use portable X-ray fluorescence machines on-site to get real-time, on-the-run chemistry readings. This savvy extra layer of analysis will allow the company to pivot and optimise the drilling program daily, making sure it’s chasing the best mineralisation as results come to hand.
While the primary focus remains on rare earths, the company is fast-tracking exploration at its Northern Territory Buntine base metals project. Reconnaissance mapping and rock-chip sampling have been brought forward for a May to June start.
Buntine covers a 9-kilometre strike length of prospective ground with similar-aged rocks to those hosting the world-class McArthur River lead-zinc deposit. Previous sampling has already coughed up three different anomalous zones with hits of lead, cobalt, uranium, tungsten, nickel, zinc and copper.
With the environmental approvals now in the bag and the experts from RSC locked in, the company expects the rigs to start humming within weeks in the Northern Territory as it looks to turn its 40-million-tonne rare earths resource into a project of global scale.
It is a big win for Barkly to be able to jump through the regulatory hoops so quickly after their ASX-listing just four months ago. With a massive 10,000 metres of drilling about to kick off, there should be plenty of news flow on the way.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: mattbirney@bullsnbears.com.au
