At a 300 parts per million (ppm) neodymium-praseodymium cut-off, Red Metal says the Kary Zone hosts 936 million tonnes (Mt) at 334ppm combined neodymium-praseodymium and 31.7ppm combined dysprosium-terbium to 100 metres depth. That resource comprises 182Mt of saprock from surface, 157Mt of transitional ore and 598Mt of fresh granite, which was still leaching at the time of reporting. The Sybella project lies 20 kilometres south-west of Mount Isa and is built around a granite-hosted rare earth system that starts at surface. It has a zero
strip ratio in the early weathered material and is being assessed as a potentially simple heap leach development. The company will now push ahead with prefeasibility work, including further column tests on a minus 30mm fraction, taller 6m columns, ion-exchange purification studies using the leach liquors and geotechnical work to help determine heap stack heights. Red Metal’s broader exploration book gives it plenty of other levers to work with, too. Its March quarterly flagged follow-up gold work at Pardoo in WA, copper-gold targets at Pulkarrimarra
in WA and Pernatty Lagoon and Callabonna in SA, along with government co-funded drilling across priority targets in Queensland and WA. For now, though, Sybella is the clear headline act. If Red Metal can keep converting its lab work into practical engineering numbers, its Mount Isa rare earths push may have just taken a meaningful stride from clever concept towards a much stronger development case. Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: mattbirney@bullsnbears.com.au
Red Metal, Sybella project, Kary Zone, heap leach, rare earths, Mount Isa, neodymium praseodymium, dysprosium terbium, column tests, ion-exchange purification, geotechnical work
So they’re just gonna dump rocks in a heap and it magically turns into rare earths? Sounds sus.
I don’t get the ppm stuff at all but 936 million tonnes is a lot right. Like, if it’s real, why aren’t they already mining it full time?
Wait are they saying Mount Isa is 20 kilometers from this heap leach thing? Also “still leaching at the time of reporting” sounds like they just left it going and didn’t clean up yet.
This sounds like another “promising tests” story. Heap leach + ion-exchange purification = marketing words until they prove it works at scale. And the rare earth cut-off is 300 ppm? I feel like that’s either high or low depending on who’s talking.