Eagle Mountain Mining flags rare earth potential at Arizona Copper Project

A limited re-assay program at Eagle Mountain’s Oracle Ridge Copper Mine in Arizona, USA, have boosted the rare earth element (REE) potential of the project. Additionally, assays from three drill holes continue to grow the Talon prospect

The assays from the Talon prospect returned:

• 9.94% copper, 102g/t silver and 3.35g/t gold over 1.3m (WT-22-162) within 29.7m at 1.30% copper, 14.37g/t silver and 0.34g/t gold from 294m;
• 9.1m at 1.67% copper, 14.63g/t silver and 0.18g/t gold (WT-22-162); and
• 6.7m at 2.30% copper, 23.40g/t silver and 0.25g/t gold (WT-22-164).

“The very good grades and widths from drill hole WT-22-162 in the North East Talon demonstrate the real possibility of finding further strong mineralisation along the edge of the magnetic high anomaly which has been the main target for all drilling at the mine,” Eagle Mountain Mining (ASX:EM2) CEO Tim Mason said.

Plus, the company flagged up to 2,000 parts per million (ppm) Total Rare Earth Elements (TREE) in 38 sample re-assay program – with the average TREE across all samples 472ppm.

It’s kind of a big deal since REE are on the critical elements list of the US Government and that federal funding may be available to support in-country REE projects.

Assay results from 16 holes are pending.

REE potential an ‘exciting development’

The discovery of rare earth elements at Oracle Ridge is an exciting development for the company, and warrants follow up work.

“Eagle Mountain is very pleased with the discovery of rare earths at Oracle Ridge.

“Managing Director, Charlie Bass, noted several months ago elevated rare earth element indicators in some of our drilling prompting further investigation by our geology team.

“Re-assay of previous samples with a better technique returned some quite reasonable rare earth grades and certainly supports our plans for further studies.”

Comparable to La Paz

Full-suite analyses of rare earth elements (REE) were carried out on previously assayed core that showed elevated values of lanthanum, cerium and yttrium

The average TREE of the 38 samples submitted for analysis is 472 ppm – compare that to American Rare Earths’ (ASX:ARR) Laz Paz rare earth and scandium deposit also in Arizona which has reported a Mineral Resource Estimate averaging 391 ppm TREE.

And skarn alteration at the project contains abundant garnet, with previous metallurgical floatation test work on Oracle Ridge copper mineralised material showed up to almost 15% garnet in the tails and grain sizes ranging from 100 to 400 μm.

This size range could be used for industrial purposes such as a filtration medium, water jet cutting and abrasives which could retail for $US845/short tonne.

EM2 believes there is potential for by-products such as rare earths and garnet to add value (in additional to silver and gold) to future ore processing primarily for copper concentrate.

The company will include work on such potential in future studies.

Mobilising underground rig this month

Initial underground refurbishment will be completed in December and the underground rig will be mobilised later this month with the goal of commencing drilling in January 2023.

Rare earth elements are classified as critical minerals elements by the US Government due to their use in clean energy technologies such as solar panels, wind turbines, electric vehicles and hydrogen fuel cells.

“We look forward to an exciting year ahead as we commence drilling from underground as well as at surface, conduct detailed metallurgical studies and follow up on rare earth potential,” Mason said.

The underground drilling will also collect detailed data to be included in upcoming mining studies.

This article was developed in collaboration with Eagle Mountain Mining Limited, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.

The post Eagle Mountain Mining flags rare earth potential at Arizona Copper Project appeared first on Stockhead.

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