Northern Minerals Limited has announced that it will start its second phase drilling campaign at the Browns Range Project in the first week of June.
Northern Minerals’ Browns Range Project is located 160 kilometres south-east of Halls Creek in northern Western Australia and the company’s tenure around the project covers an area of approximately 2,750 square kilometres.
The second phase drilling campaign follows on from 8,500 metres of first phase of reverse circulation (RC) drilling completed at the end of 2020, with final results from that successful campaign announced on 17 February 2021.
The company has completed detailed planning for 8,500-10,000 metres of RC drilling for the second campaign which is anticipated to take roughly six weeks to complete.
The second phase will be a combination of follow-up holes based on some promising assay results returned in the first phase as well as some further greenfield target testing.
Follow-up holes are planned for the Banshee West prospect, which will build on the eight holes for 614 metres drilled as part of first phase drilling.
Best results from the 2020 drilling at Banshee West included: 12 metres at 0.43 per cent total rare earth oxides (TREO) from 34 metres (BRBR0059); 13 metres at 0.43 per cent TREO from 23 metres (BRBR0062); and 4 metres at 0.63 per cent TREO from 41 metres (BRBR0061).
The drill rig will return to the new Toad prospect discovered in the first phase campaign and further test results from the initial eight holes for 580 metres.
The previous best result from Toad was 6 metres at 0.78 per cent TREO from 49 metres (BRTR0002).
Further drill investigation will be done in the vicinity of the Gambit and Gambit West deposits, following up on anomalous results from past drilling and surface geochemical programs and at the Rogue Prospect, following up on the first pass drill program completed in 2019.
Northern Minerals also plans to drill test some greenfield targets. This work includes the Ripcord Prospect, located approximately 700 metres to the north-west of the Dazzler Deposit, where a surface geochemical anomaly was defined above the Gardiner Sandstone during fieldwork completed in 2020.
Other greenfield targets include the Pulse and Quicksilver prospects located in the south-east area of the company’s tenements near the Northern Territory border, targeting surface geochemical anomalies and mapped, mineralised structures.
Northern Minerals CEO, Mark Tory, said the company is committed to unlocking a greater endowment of Mineral Resources at Browns Range through ongoing, targeted exploration campaigns.
“With the wet season in the Kimberley now passed, we have had a team on the ground remediating access roads and working on drill pads in advance of the second phase of drilling,” Mr Tory shared.
“The results from the first phase campaign in 2020 provided a greater level of confidence in our geological modelling, which informs this significant campaign due to start next month.”
“Along with our program of further R&D test work through the Browns Range Pilot Plant in 2021, our exploration results will also feed into the current feasibility study on the development of a commercial scale beneficiation plant on site,” he added.