GLOBEX MINING ENTERPRISES INC. (GMX – Toronto Stock
Exchange, G1MN – Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Berlin, Munich,
Tradegate, Lang & Schwarz, LS Exchange, TTMzero,
Düsseldorf and Quotrix Düsseldorf Stock
Exchanges and GLBXF – OTCQX
International in the US) is pleased to provide to its
shareholders an update on geology and mineralization of its
Virgin Mountain Project. In May and December 2022,
the project area had been acquired by staking 23 unpatented lode
claims totaling a surface area of 192.28 ha in Mohave County,
northwestern Arizona, USA.
The Virgin Mountain rare earth & beryllium
property is located in the Arizona portion of the Virgin Mountain
range, about 120 km northeast of Las Vegas, Nevada. It is easily
accessible from Las Vegas via highway 15 toward the northeast until
the village of Mesquite, NV, from here a 16 km long gravel road
leads to the project area.
Past exploration activities for uranium and
later for rare earth elements (REE) initiated in the 1940’s and
ended in 1991. Numerous small exploration pits, one collapsed adit,
2 collapsed shafts and a number of old access roads resulted from
these exploration efforts. During that time several companies
conducted exploration work, including American Smelting and
Refining Company (ASARCO), which sank a 25 m deep shaft and finally
the Blandsell Mining Company, abandoning the area in 1991. In the
1950’s and 1960’s the Virgin Mountains Be-bearing pegmatites had
been explored intensely for beryllium, but never came into
production.
Globex carried out geological mapping and
collected a total of 25 rock samples.
The Virgin Mountains represent a northeast
trending range, consisting of a core of Precambrian (1.7-1.8
billion years) metamorphic and intrusive rocks, flanked by
Paleozoic to Cenozoic sedimentary rocks. Rocks occurring in, or in
the vicinity to the property area include felsic migmatite, ortho-
& paragneiss, basic & ultrabasic metamorphics, schist and
pegmatites. Meta-igneous and meta-sedimentary rocks exhibit intense
shear deformation and evidence of high temperature/high pressure
and possibly ultra-high-pressure metamorphism.
Rare Earth (REE) ± U & Th mineralization is
hosted in migmate-gneiss and interlayered thin schist layers,
locally also in pegmatite dikes. Beryllium (Be) ± Nb & Ta
mineralization is hosted exclusively in pegmatite dikes unrelated
to the REE mineralization.
REE mineralization is always associated to
anomalous or elevated radioactivity and principal ore minerals are
the phosphate minerals xenotime and monazite. Within the project
area numerous linear REE target zones had been defined.
The principal REE mineralization, named
herein the Hummingbird Zone, could be followed-up over a distance
of 250 m. It is contained in steeply dipping parallel and
en-echelon mineralized zones along a 30-40 m wide corridor trending
in average 65° NE. Strong faulting, shearing and brecciation can be
observed in some of the mineralized structures, mostly concordant
to foliation of the metamorphic wall rock, chiefly felsic
migmatite-gneiss. Globex confirmed minimum high-grade widths (with
assays) between 0.9 m and at least 1.45 m, however widths of
radioactive anomalies related to REE mineralization may approach 5
to over 10 m width (full widths not yet sampled). Globex collected
7 channel samples from outcrops of this principal REE structural
trend. The Hummingbird Zone is open to the east (300 m
additional length possible), where it is concealed by
rather shallow fluvial sand and gravel. Lateral extension for about
300 m to the west is possible as well, where most of the structure
is hidden under shallow overburden and slope scree.
REE + U, Th assay results for 7 channel samples
collected at the Hummingbird Zone
All 7 channel samples collected from the
Hummingbird structure returned high grades of light (LREE) and
heavy (HREE) rare earth elements ± thorium and uranium.
Total Rare Earth oxide contents (TREO) vary between
0.328% and 1.24%. Uranium
could represent a by-product of the REE mineralization;
higher grades below the oxidation level can be expected.
The Hummingbird Zone sticks out with
enrichment of the (more valuable) heavy rare earth
elements against most other worldwide REE
deposits/occurrence (except similar Wolverine deposit in
Australia). These elements include the high-value HREE gadolinium,
terbium, dysprosium, holmium,
erbium, lutetium (and even thulium). Furthermore, mineralization
contains abundant yttrium (lower value), ytterbium
and the valuable LREE neodymium.
Terbium is the most valuable HREE, assays returned
up to 96 g/t (0.01%) Tb2O3.
The deposit type of the HREE-dominated
mineralization at the Hummingbird Zone, Virgin Mountain Project is
not yet well understood, could however represent a combination of
pre-metamorphic enrichment in protolith rocks and hydrothermal
processes.
Pegmatites, up to 6 m thick, highly enriched in
beryllium occur within the Globex claim block over a strike length
of about 2.5 km. Be-pegmatites are composed of feldspar
(microcline, albite, plagioclase), muscovite, locally garnet, in
places minor tourmaline, beryl and/or chrysoberyl. In addition to
beryllium these pegmatites carry locally also minor amounts of the
critical metals niobium & tantalum. In the 1950’s and 1960’s
BeO grades had been analysed from 135 rock samples (bulk, channel
and grab), grades ranged widely between 0.02% and 2.98%,
corresponding to Be values between 0.072 and 10.736 kg/t. Globex
collected four samples from these pegmatites, they returned
between 0.325 and 7.577 kg/t beryllium.
Assay results of chrysoberyl-bearing pegmatite
dikes
In contrast to most other Be-bearing pegmatites
in the world the dominant Be-mineral in the Virgin Mountain
pegmatites is chrysoberyl. Chrysoberyl (formula: BeAl2O4) occurs
mostly as subhedral to euhedral tabular yellowish-green crystals up
to 3 cm in size. Chrysoberyl contains 7.1% Be (against 5.03% Be in
beryl). The average density of chrysoberyl is 3.67 g/cm3 (in
contrast to beryl with 2.76 g/cm3). Consequently, it is possible to
concentrate chrysoberyl by a simple gravity process. That is not
possible with beryl, beryl must be separated either by hand-cobbing
or by flotation.
Nowadays the mineral bertrandite is the source
mineral for more than 90 percent of the beryllium produced
globally. Spor Mountain, the world-largest beryllium deposit,
located in the state of Utah, USA produced about 170 tons beryllium
from the total yearly worldwide production of 260 tons in 2021.
However the bertrandite ore from Spor Mountain is not suitable for
ultra-high-purity beryllium products, due its high content of F and
U. Ultra-high-purity beryllium is made exclusively from the
mineral beryl (formula:
Be3Al2Si6O18
). High-purity beryllium produced from a chrysoberyl
concentrate could represent a low-cost alternative.
Analytical MethodsSamples were placed in
labelled plastic bags, sealed with a plastic zip and shipped to
American Assay Laboratories (AAL) in Sparks, Nevada, USA for
preparation and geochemical analysis. AAL is an ISO 17025 certified
laboratory. Samples are crushed and a 300 g subsample pulverized.
All samples underwent ICP-OES/MS analysis of a 0.5 g sub-sample
after 5-acid digestion for 60 elements including silver and all
rare earth elements (Assay lab code: ICP-5AM60 or IO-4AB61). For
samples assayed for beryllium a 0.5 g sub-sample is digested via
sodium peroxide fusion followed by ICP-OES (lab code: IO-NFBe).
Typical internal standards and checks were completed by AAL during
analysis.
It should be noted that 5-acid digestion method
might not dissolve all REE-bearing mineral phases completely. Also,
columbite (niobium-tantalum mineral) is not well dissolved with the
5-acid method.
This press release was written by Matthias
Jurgeit, Eurogeologist under the supervision of Jack Stoch, Geo.,
President and CEO of Globex in his capacity as a Qualified Person
(Q.P.) under NI 43-101.
We Seek Safe Harbour. |
Foreign Private Issuer 12g3 – 2(b) |
|
CUSIP Number 379900 50 9LEI 529900XYUKGG3LF9PY95 |
For further information, contact: |
Jack Stoch, P.Geo., Acc.Dir.President & CEOGlobex Mining
Enterprises Inc.86, 14th StreetRouyn-Noranda, Quebec Canada J9X
2J1 |
Tel.: 819-797-5242Fax: 819-797-1470 info@globexmining.com
www.globexmining.com |
Forward Looking Statements:
Except for historical information, this news release may contain
certain “forward looking statements”. These statements may involve
a number of known and unknown risks and uncertainties and other
factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity and
performance to be materially different from the expectations and
projections of Globex Mining Enterprises Inc. (“Globex”). No
assurance can be given that any events anticipated by the
forward-looking information will transpire or occur, or if any of
them do so, what benefits Globex will derive therefrom. A more
detailed discussion of the risks is available in the “Annual
Information Form” filed by Globex on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.
Photos accompanying this announcement are
available
athttps://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/1e024bbf-3843-4b6f-a2ce-5154c3e1772chttps://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/9fee5f3a-5daa-428a-ba79-19d82eb01f24
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