Magnetic Resources NL announced Initial aircore drilling in the wheatbelt region of Western Australia within the Trayning tenement (E70/3604) has intersected significant thicknesses of very anomalous shallow clay-hosted rare earth elements (REE) with thicker intersections of total rare earth oxides (TREO) including: 18m at 872ppm TREO from 52m in MTRAC007;40m at 1049ppm TREO from 28m in MTRAC009; 52m at 1096ppm TREO from 12m IN MTRAC011;
32m at 1379ppm TREO from 28m in MTRAC013; 28m at 989ppm TREO from 4m in MTRAC055. REE grades are highest and thickest at the 2km-long EW trending aeromagnetic anomaly in the southwest part of the exploration licence. Wide spaced drilling has been carried out on holes 100m apart with a line spacing of 650m, with REE enrichments and thicknesses remaining open in most directions. Weathering at the magnetic anomalies 10km to the northeast is shallower with a thicker weathered zone in drillhole MTRAC055. As a result of these highly
anomalous results and recognizing the potential for the Trayning region to be within a new REE
province two tenements were applied for totaling 198 sq km. This initial shallow drilling of 29 holes for 956m (average 33m) targeted a series of linear, arcuate and domal aeromagnetic anomalies, including a prominent 2km long EW anomaly trending situated about
10km northwest of Trayning, some 200km northeast of Perth, initially to assess the area for its copper-nickel potential, which were sampled in 4m composites for copper, nickel and associated
elements. The drilling intersected weathered magnetite and biotite-bearing granitic rocks after which selected drill samples were analysed for rare earth elements. The distribution of anomalous REE coincide with what appear to be flat-lying ferruginous zones within a residual saprolitic profile above the granite. Drillhole details and analytical results for total rare earth elements (TREE2) >300ppm. Light rare earths (LREO3) predominate over heavy rare earths (HREO4) in the anomalous zones. Significantly, about 20% of the TREO are composed of the high value magnet rare earths (MREO5), particularly neodymium and praseodymium, which are used in high intensity magnets in electric motors. Critical rare earth oxides (CREO6) are present in similar amounts. Copper is slightly enriched in the ferruginous zones generally ranging from 40-100ppm with a peak value of 749ppm from 48-52m in hole MTRAC013. Nickel values are low, as are uranium levels (around 10ppm). Analysis of the remaining 4m composite samples for REE is in progress together with planning of further drilling when cropping of this farmland is complete, towards the end of the calendar year. In the meantime, Magnetic has applied for two exploration licences in nearby areas with a view to expanding the search for shallow clay hosted REE mineralization. The highest amplitude aeromagnetic anomalies appear to be favourable features for REE, with shallow clay zones, in this district. The Koorda tenement has a significant 12km arcuate EW aeromagnetic anomaly and Trayning and Korrelocking have 2km long linear EW aeromagnetic anomalies. In addition, Magnetic is planning preliminary test
work on drill samples to examine the leaching characteristics and mineralogy of the REE enrichments.