TSX-V: RES & AMEX: REE
VANCOUVER, May 17 /PRNewswire/ - Rare Element Resources
Ltd. (TSX-V: RES) (NYSE Amex: REE) is pleased to report a
summary of results from its 2010 rare earth element (REE)
exploration program and an outline of plans for the 2011 program at
the Bear Lodge property in northeastern Wyoming, USA (Figure 1). The 2010 REE
exploration program included a total of 42,409 feet of core in 63
drill holes for resource definition and exploration purposes, and
3,844 feet of large diameter core for bulk sample material
dedicated to a pilot plant test scheduled for the third quarter of
2011. The REE drilling program was augmented by geological mapping,
geophysical surveys, soil and rock chip geochemical surveys, and
additional bulk sampling of near-surface mineralized material.
Rare Element's independent resource estimation
consultant is currently compiling the 2010 drilling results, and
the updated resource estimate should be reported during the second
quarter of 2011. The Company expects that the overall resource will
increase in size, and that a substantial portion of the oxide
resource will be upgraded to the "indicated" and, possibly,
"measured" categories. Rare Element Resources' exploration and
evaluation plans for the Bear Lodge project in 2011 include:
- Additional resource definition drilling to expand and upgrade
the resources at the Bull Hill SW and Bull Hill NW deposits
- Exploration and resource definition drilling at the Whitetail
Ridge prospect.
- Exploration drilling at the Bull Hill West, Carbon South, and
other prospective REE targets identified during the 2010
exploration program.
- Geological mapping, geochemical sampling, and geophysical
surveys over selected areas in order to better delineate current
target areas and identify new targets for economic REE
mineralization.
- Collection of additional bulk sample mineralized material for
the pilot plant testing from a second large diameter core drilling
program in select, well-mineralized areas, along with additional
sampling of mineralized surface exposures in road cuts, trenches,
and drill sites.
- A condemnation drilling program to ensure that the proposed
low-grade stockpile and waste facility will not cover ground that
is prospective for REE and/or gold mineralization.
- Environmental baseline and geotechnical studies directed toward
ultimate mine development.
- Continued metallurgical testing of oxide zone mineralized
material for optimization of mineral concentration and chemical
concentration processes.
- Pilot plant metallurgical testing on bulk sample material
collected in 2010 to produce a potentially saleable rare earth
carbonate concentrate.
- Continuation of metallurgical testing on the transitional
mineralized material. [***Note: I don't think the transitional
material testing actually started until 2011.]
- Completion of a Preliminary Feasibility Study by the end of the
fourth quarter of 2011.
Jim Clark, Vice
President of Exploration states: "The 2010 exploration and drilling
program was tremendously successful, and the Company expects this
success to propagate into 2011. In addition to expanding the
resources and upgrading the resource category, our work in 2010
identified new prospective areas and improved tremendously our
understanding of the deposit. Our developing deposit model should
enhance our exploration and resource definition work in 2011. The
Company is excited about the follow-up drilling on the Whitetail
Ridge target, which could increase significantly the global deposit
resource. We anticipate the achievement of several key milestones
during 2011 on the road to production, including the pilot plant
test work and a preliminary feasibility study. Our exploration team
is gearing up for a great year!"
Figure 1. Location of the Bear Lodge
project in northeastern Wyoming,
near the town of Sundance. -
http://files.newswire.ca/675/RERfigurestable.pdf
Results from the 2010 REE Resource Definition
and Exploration Drill Program
Details of the resource definition and
exploration drilling programs were reported previously in news
releases dated 15 September 2010,
9 November 2010, 10 January 2011, 7
February 2011, and 6 April
2011. Details of the bulk sample drilling were reported in a
news release dated 12 October 2010.
The objectives of the 2010 REE drill program were: 1) to upgrade a
significant part of the resource from inferred to measured and
indicated; 2) expand current resources at the Bull Hill Southwest
and Bull Hill Northwest areas; 3) conduct initial drill exploration
at the Whitetail Ridge target area; and 4) identify other
prospective areas for potentially economic REE mineralization. An
NI 43-101-compliant, inferred resource estimate for the Bull Hill
SW and Bull Hill NW resource areas, based on drilling by the
Company through 2009, was completed in May
2010 and reported in a news release dated 26 May 2010. Locations of the holes drilled
during the Company's 2010 REE exploration and resource definition
program are shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2. Bear Lodge Project—2010 drill
hole locations. -
http://files.newswire.ca/675/RERfigurestable.pdf
The REE deposits in the Bear Lodge Mountains of
northeastern Wyoming occur within
a large alkaline igneous complex that domes overlying older
sedimentary rocks. The deposits are spatially associated with
several diatreme breccias that are distributed along a
northwesterly alignment (Figure 3). The REE mineralization is
hosted in intrusive dikes, veins, and stockwork bodies of
carbonatite and its near-surface oxidized equivalents (FMR). FMR
refers to the major constituents of the highly oxidized, former
carbonatite dikes that occur in the depth range between the surface
and 300-500 feet (91-152 meters) beneath the surface. These include
iron oxides (F for FeOx), manganese oxides (M for MnOx), and rare
earth minerals (R for REE minerals). Stockwork refers to a complex
system of sub parallel to randomly oriented veins. The FMR bodies
contain little or no groundmass calcite. A zone of variably
oxidized carbonatite with minor to significant groundmass calcite
and with zero to relatively minor unoxidized sulfide is termed
transitional carbonatite. The transitional carbonatite
exhibits significant variability with regard to proportions of
groundmass calcite, iron and manganese oxides, and relict sulfide,
and the Company is undertaking studies to further classify the unit
and determine the sub-type or types most amenable to the current
metallurgical flowsheet. The transition zone has uneven thickness
and occurs beneath the FMR zone and above the deeper zone of
unoxidized carbonatite. The mineralized bodies invade
heterolithic intrusive breccia of the Bull Hill diatreme, as well
as trachytic and phonolitic intrusive rocks.
Figure 3. The diatreme breccias are
distributed along a northwesterly alignment. The breccias are
spatially associated with the REE-mineralized bodies -
http://files.newswire.ca/675/RERfigurestable.pdf
REE assay values are reported by convention as
the combined oxide equivalents (REO) of the fifteen elements in the
lanthanide series + yttrium. The oxide equivalents are
approximately 15.6% higher than the combined metal assay values.
The Bear Lodge project contains predominantly the "light" REE
(lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium, and neodymium), and economically
important quantities of several of the "heavy" REEs (europium,
dysprosium, and terbium).
Significant assay results from the 2010 REE
drilling program are given in Table 1.
Table 1. Significant drill results from
the Rare Element Resources 2010 REE drilling program (intercepts
>30 feet and >3.46% TREO). -
http://files.newswire.ca/675/RERfigurestable.pdf
Bull Hill Southwest Resource Area
Fifty core holes totaling 32,729 feet (9,978m)
were drilled in the Bull Hill SW resource area in 2010 (Figure 2).
Significant intercepts are summarized in Table 1. Most of the holes
were drilled along a N45ºE azimuth, at 100 or 200 foot spacing from
a series of sites along a N45ºE-trending resource evaluation grid
established in conjunction with Ore Reserves Engineering, the
Company's resource estimation consultant (Figures 2 and 4).
Inclination angles were most commonly at -45º and -70º, or at minor
deviations from those angles. Several of the holes were drilled on
the same grid at an azimuth of S45ºW, again at inclination angles
of at or near -45º and -70º. Drilling results confirm that the
target FMR and carbonatite bodies exhibit strong REE mineralization
over a strike length of more than 1400 feet (426m). Interpretive
correlations of drill intercepts suggest a structural bias of the
mineralized bodies toward vertical or near vertical dips.
Figure 4. Plan view of drill hole traces
and mineralized intercepts projected to the surface. Note the
apparent transition from northwesterly to northerly strikes of the
mineralized bodies in the northern third and at the southeastern
margin of the Bull Hill SW resource area. -
http://files.newswire.ca/675/RERfigurestable.pdf
Geological interpretation of results from the
2011 drill program indicate that the Bull Hill SW resource area is
dominated by northwest-striking mineralized bodies in the southern
two-thirds of the resource area, while the northern part of the
resource area exhibits a transitional change in strike from
northwesterly to almost due north (Figure 4). The Bull Hill SW
resource is open along strike to the southeast. The REE
mineralization is contained within a main dike that can have a true
width of up to about 119 feet (36m) and subordinate, sub parallel
dikes and stockwork. There may be a second north-trending zone of
mineralized dikes at the southeastern end of the current resource
(Figure 4).
Bull Hill Northwest Resource Area
Nine core holes totaling 5,694 feet (1,736m)
were drilled in the Bull Hill NW resource area in 2010 (Figure 2).
Significant intercepts are listed in Table 1. REE mineralization in
the Bull Hill NW resource area is contained within intrusive dikes,
veins, and stockwork of FMR, transitional
carbonatite/silicocarbonatite, and carbonatite/silicocarbonatite
that invade trachytic and phonolitic intrusive rocks of the Bear
Lodge alkaline complex. Silicocarbonatite is a carbonatite-related
rock that carries abundant silicate mineral phases dispersed in the
carbonate matrix. The silicate phases in the Bull Hill NW
silicocarbonatite are primarily biotite and K feldspar. The
structural controls for the mineralized bodies remain incompletely
understood in this target area, but it appears most likely that
northerly-striking mineralized bodies predominate. The
north-striking mineralized bodies at Bull Hill NW appear generally
to be narrower and lower-grade than those in the Bull Hill SW
resource area, although exploration at Bull Hill NW has yet to be
completed. Strongly anomalous gold mineralization in drill hole
RES10-60 is distributed in trachyte porphyry and crosscutting
biotite silicocarbonatite dikes, with the highest-grade intercept
(12 ft @ 11.85gpt Au) contained within a biotite silicocarbonate
dike. This occurrence of overlapping gold and REE mineralization,
and another at the Whitetail Ridge target area, will be
investigated during the Company's 2011 exploration program.
Whitetail Ridge Target
Two core holes totaling 1,631 feet (497m) were
drilled at the Whitetail Ridge target in 2010 (Figure 2).
Significant intercepts are given in Table 1. The Whitetail Ridge
REE target area is located approximately 1,500 feet northwest of
the Bull Hill Southwest deposit, adjacent to and west of the Bull
Hill Northwest target. It is marked at the surface by a zone of FMR
stockwork and a coincident geophysical anomaly. The size of the
geophysical anomaly (approximately 1,400 by 2,000 feet elongate
northeasterly) provides an indication that the REE target may be
larger than others in the district. Historic hole WP-1, drilled
within the Whitetail Ridge target area by Hecla Mining Company in
1987, intersected 430 feet that averaged 2.44% REO in a
near-surface intercept from 0 to 430 feet (non-NI-43-101
compliant). Within the larger intercept were several 10-foot
intercepts with grades ranging from 5.5 to 13.7% REO. The holes
drilled during the 2010 program were sited based on detailed
geological mapping (Figure 5), a ground geophysical survey, and
historic drilling results from Duval, Molycorp, and Hecla. Detailed mapping suggests that the REE
mineralization consists of northwest-striking FMR dikes and an FMR
stockwork zone that is elongate northeasterly, with dimensions of
roughly 1250 feet (380 meters) by 950 feet (290 meters). The
enveloping geophysical anomaly is larger and may indicate a broader
distribution of REE mineralization beneath the extensive soil and
colluvial cover.
Figure 5. Geological map of part of the
Whitetail Ridge REE target area. The zone of FMR dikes strikes
northwesterly and cuts a diatreme breccia. The long axis of the FMR
stockwork zone trends northeasterly. -
http://files.newswire.ca/675/RERfigurestable.pdf
Bull Hill West Target
Two core holes totaling 2,355 feet (718m) were
collared in the Bull Hill West target area (Figure 2). Two other
holes drilled in the Bull Hill SW resource area penetrated the Bull
Hill West target area at depth. Significant assay results are given
in Table 1. The results from drill holes RES10-46, RES10-47,
RES10-51, and RES10-57 indicate that mineralized veins, dikes, and
associated stockwork zones continue to the west across the Bull
Hill drainage with little or no offset. The Company identifies this
area west of the Bull Hill drainage as the Bull Hill West target
(Figure 4), an area that combines target areas referred to in past
news releases and presentations as the "Conceptual Carbonatite
Plug" target and the "Fault Offset" target. Until these recent
results from drilling west of the drainage, it was thought that the
drainage represented a structure (West Bull Hill fault) that could
have significantly offset or terminated the REE-mineralized dike
swarms at the Bull Hill SW resource area.
Carbon South Gold / REE Target
Two reverse circulation drill holes (SUN-076 and
SUN-079) completed during the Company's 2010 Sundance gold exploration program cut
significant REE mineralization in FMR vein material that intrudes
trachytic and syenitic intrusive rocks (Figure 2). The drill holes
totaled 1,390 feet (424m) and were collared just south of the
Carbon gold target and about 1,200
feet (366m) northwest of the Whitetail Ridge REE exploration
target. The REE mineralization may portend the northwestern
extension of the Whitetail Ridge system or, alternatively, a
distinct FMR/carbonatite mineralized system. Significant
REE-bearing intercepts from the Carbon South target area are given
in Table 1. If this mineralization is a continuation of the
Whitetail Ridge dike system and the Bull Hill SW system, its total
length may reach up to 5000 feet (1500m) in length.
The drilling data were interpreted using
LeapFrog 3D software, and the interpreted deposit geometry is
illustrated in Figure 6.
Figure 6. LeapFrog 3-D image of the Bull
Hill and Whitetail Ridge REE deposits. -
http://files.newswire.ca/675/RERfigurestable.pdf
Bulk Sampling Program
The Company conducted a bulk sample collection
program of FMR vein and stockwork material during September 2010. The objective of the program was
the acquisition of about 8 tons or more of oxidized,
REE-mineralized FMR vein material that will be used to feed a pilot
plant designed to test the commercial viability of the mineral
process flowsheet developed for the REE by Mountain States Research
and Development, International (MSRDI), the Company's metallurgical
testing consultants. The pilot plant testing is scheduled to
commence during the third quarter of 2011. It is expected to
produce a bulk mixed rare earth carbonate concentrate that can be
used for marketing if the Company decides to sell concentrates
initially, and as test material for the separation of individual
rare earth oxides as a first step toward refinement and production
of high purity rare earth oxide products. Several laboratories with
pilot plant capabilities are under consideration for the testing.
The pilot plant test will be part of a preliminary feasibility
study planned for completion in late 2011.
The bulk testing program consisted of a series
of large-diameter PQ (diameter 85mm) and HQ (diameter 63.5mm) core
holes that penetrate the oxide zone in the Bull Hill Southwest REE
deposit. The holes were drilled from closely spaced sites near the
center and southeastern parts of the deposit, where the FMR vein
material occurs very close to the surface. Drilling was designed to
collect samples that would be representative of material sent to
the mill during the first five years of potential production. The
deepest holes were drilled to a depth of approximately 190 feet
(58m). Grades are likely to range between 2% and 15% REO, based on
previous exploration holes from the same sites. Multiple holes were
drilled from each site in fans at a common azimuth and different
inclination angles designed to capture as much FMR vein material as
possible. A total of 40 holes was drilled, with an aggregate
footage of 2117 feet (645 m) of REE-mineralized FMR material.
Thirty of the drill holes are PQ-size holes for a total footage of
1753 feet (534 m) of FMR material, and ten of the holes are
HQ-size, with a total footage of 364 feet (111 m) of FMR material.
The aggregate weight of REE-mineralized material collected from the
drilling program is about 12,700 pounds (5,773kg). Low-grade
stockwork material collected during the drilling is currently
undergoing metallurgical test work at Hazen Research of
Golden, Colorado in order to
examine methods of inexpensive upgrade of the REE values that take
advantage of the physical characteristics of the FMR vein
material.
The large diameter drill core samples are
augmented by bulk sample material collected at and near the
surface, where FMR vein material was identified during drill site
construction. This material was collected in 55 gallon drums and
has an aggregate weight of about 6750 pounds (3,068kg).
Collectively, the Company has a total stockpile of about 9.7 tons
(8.8 tonnes) of FMR material for use in the pilot plant test work.
The material is stored currently at one of the Company's leased
warehouses in Sundance, Wyoming.
This material will be retained there until the testing laboratory
is selected and the pilot plant is built and ready for operation.
The program has acquired sufficient FMR feed material required for
the pilot plant study.
Rare Element Resources Ltd (TSX-V: RES &
AMEX: REE) is a publicly traded mineral resource
company focused on exploration and development of rare-earth
elements and gold on the Bear Lodge property.
Rare-earth elements are key components of the
green energy technologies and other high-technology applications.
Some of the major applications include hybrid automobiles, plug-in
electric automobiles, advanced wind turbines, computer hard drives,
compact fluorescent light bulbs, metal alloys, additives in
ceramics and glass, petroleum cracking catalysts, and a number of
critical military applications. China currently produces more than 95% of the
130,000 metric tonnes of rare-earths consumed annually worldwide,
and China has been reducing its
exports of rare earths each year. The rare-earth market is growing
rapidly, and is projected to accelerate if the green technologies
are implemented on a broad scale.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD
Donald E. Ranta, PhD, PGeo,
President & CEO
Donald E. Ranta, PhD, PGeo,
serves the Board of Directors of the Company as an internal,
technically Qualified Person. Technical information in this
news release has been reviewed by Dr. Ranta and has been prepared
in accordance with Canadian regulatory requirements that are set
out in National Instrument 43-101. This news release was
prepared by Company management, who take full responsibility for
content. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services
Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX
Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or
accuracy of this release.
SOURCE Rare Element Resources Ltd.