Meteoric Resources NL has signed a Definitive Agreement to acquire the Rare Earths (REE) rights comprising the Caldeira Project.
“The signing of the Definitive Agreement is a significant step for Meteoric and represents several months of hard work by all parties resulting in a comprehensive document focused on the path forward for exploration and development of the Caldeira Project. In this process, Togni and Meteoric have developed extremely strong ties which now enables Meteoric to leverage Togni’s remarkable 112-year history of mining in the area to fast track our efforts,” Meteoric Director Dr Andrew Tunks said.
According to Tunks, work has centred on the ongoing diamond drilling of 26 twin holes to investigate the depth potential of the REE mineralisation and a significant assay verification exercise in which 5% of samples from the original exploration were re-assayed at a different laboratory. Tunks added that the results confirm that the original study was of good quality, with the new results nearly identical to the original assays.
“The USD$17.5 million from the sale of Juruena on 31 March will be used to complete the acquisition of the Caldeira Project, with the payment of the first US$5 million instalment to Togni. The remaining funds, together with ~AUD$7.5m of in-the-money 2023 options, ensures Meteoric is well-funded to hit the ground running on the exploration and development of this truly amazing Tier 1 project. We are also working hard to attract the best Rare Earths talent to our team to drive the project towards development,” Tunks stated.
Tunks said the Caldeira Project’s geological modelling for the calculation of a Maiden JORC Mineral Resource is well advanced. He reported that Meteoric senior executives recently met with the Resource Group BNA Mining Solutions in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, to evaluate the work, which is moving very well, and the company expect the Resource to be available to the market in late April.
According to Meteoric, the results for 398 samples, including laboratory pulps (296) and coarse auger drilling rejects (102), were chosen from 23 holes reflecting a wide geographical range of past exploration. Meteoric said holes were also chosen to guarantee that all grade levels were represented throughout the Project. The results show a strong correlation between the old and new assays for the samples, improving trust in prior work.
Meteoric further indicated that a plot comparing original samples (SGS Laboratory) to re-assay samples (ALS Laboratory) shows no statistically significant bias between the original exploration results and Meteoric’s re-assay data.
