Lindian Resources Limited has issued assay results from the phase 1 drilling program at the Kangankunde Rare Earths project in Malawi.
According to Lindian, the results are for the 11 Reverse Circulation (RC) holes and three diamond core holes with grades of up to 13.89 per cent total rare earth oxides (TREO).
The company said the phase 1 program had completed over 14,000 m of drilling, adding that assays from 49 holes remain outstanding.
The program was designed to provide initial data for resource evaluation and mine planning.
Two RC rigs have demobilised from the site, with the remaining core drilling rig conducting phase 2 depth extension drilling efforts.
Lindian said drilling has also started on the phase 2 program, with RC precollars completed to a downhole depth of 150 m at two sites on the western side of the Central Carbonatite.
The drill holes are designed to test the axies of the carbonatite between 300 m and 800 m below the hilltop, approximately 500 m below the current deepest drilling.
The company’s preliminary metallurgical test work has demonstrated a mineral concentrate of ~60 per cent and a circa 70 per cent recovery using water-only, low-cost gravity and magnetic beneficiation techniques.
Lindian said it would continue to refine the use of gravity and magnetic separation techniques, with finer grinding a key variable to be tested to improve recovery and concentrate grade.
According to Lindian CEO Alistair Stephens, the assay results are some of the company’s highest grades to date with three holes averaging better than 3 per cent TREO over continuous intervals of 150 m or more from the surface.
“These high-grade results are largely from the northern part of the central carbonatite, an area that is showing considerable promise, and for which further assays are pending,” he added.
Stephens noted that the company is looking to define the depth and extremities of the mineralisation so it can better understand the extent of the orebody.
