Summary
- Ionic Rare Earth Limited has churned out an excellent update on Phase 2 drilling program for its flagship Makuutu Rare Earths Project.
- The tranche six assay results involve drill results from 34 holes. A total of 222 holes were drilled.
- The Company will commence the update of the Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) after receiving the next tranche of assay result from the remaining 34 holes.
- The stock price of the Company zoomed up 28% during the early hours of trade.
Ionic Rare Earths Limited (ASX:IXR) has announced the tranche six assay result from the Phase 2 drilling program from its flagship Makuutu Project. The excellent assay results drove the stock prices up by 28.8% during the initial hours of the trading today.
Ionic Rare Earths operates the rare earth (REE) mineral exploration project in Uganda. IXR enjoys a 51% stake in the project and had undertaken a drilling campaign of 222 holes in the year 2020. The campaign, which was the biggest one on the project, aimed at the resource upgrade and testing of the exploration target.
Planned and Completed Drill hole Location (Image Source: ASX Update: 22 January 2021)
For Latest Update: Ionic Rare Earths’ (ASX:IXR) Makuutu Project Exploration Target grows by 50%
Tranche Six Assay Results
The tranche six assay results from the Phase 2 drill program consisted of 34 drill holes west of the existing MRE, part of the overall 222 holes with a combined 3,745m of drilling. The drill holes were spread through three tenements on the project. The current result includes 11 holes from the area D and E, as shown in the above figure. The remaining 23 holes are from the current MRE area (infill drilling).
Drill hole Location Tranche 6 holes (Image Source: ASX Update: 22 January 2021)
The area D lies approximately 2.5KM west of the MRE area and lies on RL1693, the licence for which has been recently renewed. IXR drilled seven holes over 1X1.1 KM2 of area D. The spacing between the holes was maintained at a range of 230-400m. All seven holes intersected clay and saprolite-hosted mineralisation.
Significant intercepts in Area D are:
- 7.7m at 873ppm TREO from 8.3m- Hole RRMDD214
- 7.2m at 728ppm TREO from 6.1m- Hole RRMDD218
TREO- total rare earth oxides
Also Read: Ionic Rare Earths (ASX:IXR) Jumped 5% with the Tranche 5 Assay Results
Area E lies one KM south-west of the MRE. The Company drilled 4 holes in the area with spacing between holes in a range of 250-300m. One hole intersected mineralisation above the cut-off grade while the rest three were of lower grade. The significant intercept on area E is - 13.4m at 772ppm TREO from 6.1m - Hole RRMDD220.
Ionic Rare Earths planned and drilled 57 holes on the tenement RL1693 on the current MRE area. The main objective of these 57 holes was infill drilling in order to increase the confidence for resource upgrade on the project.
The tranche six assays contains drill results of 23 holes while the remaining 34 holes will be covered in the last tranche seven (7) assay results scheduled to be reported at the end of January 2021.
The holes in infill drilling were spaced at 200m. All 23 holes returnedclay and saprolite-hosted mineralisation. Some significant intersection results are :-
- 15.8m at 1,375ppm TREO from 5.9m- Hole RRMDD225
- 16.6m at 1,379ppm TREO from 6.8m- Hole RRMDD226
- 9.1m at 1,113ppm TREO from 3.9m- Hole RRMDD229
- 10.1m at 1,754ppm TREO from 4.7m- Hole RRMDD232
- 13.2m at 1,101ppm TREO from 8.2m- Hole RRMDD233
Source: ASX Update, 22 January 2021
Operational Plan for 2021
- IXR will commence the upgrade of the MRE once all assay results are received. The assay results are expected to be out by January end. So, an MRE update can be expected around February end.
- The Company will also update the Scoping Study after the MRE update, expect end of March.
- IXR will commence RAB drilling campaign on newly granted licence EL0017 during the second quarter of 2021.
Share Price Movement
The stock of the Company closed at A$0.035, with a gain of 6.06%. The stocks were on the rise since the announcement of tranche six results and soared 28%, as of 10 AM AEDT today. IXR has a market cap of A$98.16 million at the close of trading on 22 January 2021.
