source:Investing News Network
Maximus Resources Limited (‘Maximus’ or the ‘Company’, ASX:MXR) is pleased to provide an update on the completed aircore drill programme at the 311 km2 Jilbadji prospect (100% MXR) located ~25km east of Mt Holland, Western Australia.
It is encouraging to intersect elevated REE mineralisation in 37 of 41 completed aircore holes, across a broad saprolite zone, with a very large area still waiting to be explored. Following these results, we have started further analytical testing to understand the potential of the Jilbadji prospect.”
Jilbadji Prospect
Located within the Archaean Southern Cross Province of the Yilgarn Craton, the Jilbadji prospect encompasses a 20 km long arcuate magnetic trend. A 41-hole drill program (Figure 1) was completed to investigate the geological setting by drilling below the shallow transported cover and to gain an understanding of the magnetic and gravity anomalies.
The program involved drilling utilising existing vehicle tracks for 1,060 metres, at 600m drillhole spacing, along traverses intersecting the areas of maximum magnetic and gravity responses. Co-funding for the drill program, up to $90,000, was provided by the Western Australia Government Exploration Incentive Scheme (EIS).
The drilling program revealed the presence of a regolith profile that includes a thin layer of transported cover (1-4 metres) and a thick saprolite layer with a vertical thickness ranging from 20 to 30 metres (Figure 2). The bedrock in the area is composed of metamorphosed granitic intrusions. The saprolite layer above the bedrock contains anomalous levels of REE (Table 1) displaying residual enrichment of REE.
The Company's next phase exploration effort will focus on the identification of residual clays within the preserved regolith profile.
To further the understanding of the REE mineralisation, the Company has submitted mineralised saprolite samples for analytical metallurgical tests to ascertain ionic clay composition. In addition, the Company intends to carry out petrographic and Scanning Electron Microscopy analysis (SEM), which aims to identify the REE mineral phases and assess the clay REE deportment.
Our next steps to perform mineralogical and geochemical testing will help us determine potential soluble REEs, which are typical of high-value clay-hosted ionic REE deposits and inform our decision-making going forward.