A potential new source of the “critical” rare earth elements neodymium and praseodymium in Northwest Queensland
New REO deposit style in Northwest Queensland
• Drilling and preliminary metallurgical tests outline potential for new weak-acid soluble, rare earth oxide (REO) deposit type
• Scope for extraction using bulk mining and simple metallurgical processing
Results show weak-acid soluble REO minerals in favourable low-acid consuming granite host rock
• Just 20 kilometres southwest of Mount Isa
• Bulk of REE’s in soluble fluoro-carbonate minerals
• Proof-of-concept drilling show two REO zones each about 1km wide
• REO mineralisation at surface, open along 14km trend, open at depth (offering vast tonnage potential)
• Localised higher grade zones
• Positive proof-of-concept leach test, but more detailed work needed
• Low-uranium, low-thorium granite host rock
• Excellent infrastructure options
Sybella Historic Seismic Drilling
Sybella Vast Tonnage Potential
• Proof-of-concept drilling by Red Metal highlights two separate REO mineralised zones each about 1000m wide
• Open along strike north and south and at depth
• Plus localised higher grades in breccia zones
Scope for low cost open pit mining
• Starts at surface, 1000m wide
• Very low strip ratio
Potential for simple low-cost processing
• Bulk of REE’s in soluble fluoro-carbonate minerals
• Favourable low-acid consuming granite host rock
• Low uranium and thorium contaminants
Great infrastructure
• 20km southwest of Mount Isa
• Skilled work force
• In view of the smelter and acid plant
• Gas pipeline traverses exploration licence
REE enriched granite outcrop in foreground Mount Isa smelter and acid plant in background
Sybella Future Work
Bench-scale metallurgical tests
• Leach tests
• Grind sizes
• mBond Work Index
• Any mineralogical variation
Step-out drilling
• Bulk resource definition
• Extent of higher grade breccia zones
Assess alternative funding options
• Critical metals grants QLD or Federal governments
• R&D
• End users