Krakatoa formally expands known REE mineralisation at Mt. Clere to over 8km of target area

Krakatoa Resources (ASX:KTA) has published a surge of rare earth element (REE) drilling results from its latest drilling campaign at the WA-based Mt. Clere REE project Tower prospect, where REE mineralisation has been formally confirmed to extend over 5km. 

Another prospect, Tower West, is itself boosted to 3km, giving Krakatoa over 8km of REE mineralisation to go after. 

The significant upsize to Tower’s existing known body of commercial minerals comes ahead of the company’s publication of its maiden mineral resource for the project, which will now incorporate the newly enhanced dataset. 

Auger drilling remains ongoing at the location with mineralisation even deeper down than that already logged being targeted in the hopes the company can expand the body of known mineralisation even further. 

Key high-value magnetic metals present 

Rare earths can pull high prices, and that is especially true for Neodymium and Praseodymium; both of which are present in results taken from Tower at Mt. Clere. 

Both metals are superior to other REE counterparts when considering their applications in the manufacturing of permanent magnets. In turn, this provides opportunity for numerous applications in manufacturing broadly, including wind turbines, EV engine motors, and medical equipment. 

Rare Earths results often clump trace elements into parts per million (ppm) divisions, with Total Rare Earth Oxides (TREO) often the going term to capture a number of metals.

With in TREO counts, you then have MREOS, which stands for magnetic rare earth elements. MREOs, altogether, include: neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium and terbium. 

Often, MREOs will reflect up to 30% of TREO counts, representing a higher-value portion of TREOs.

MREO counts in Krakatoa’s latest results are present in concentrations “up to 0.20%,” a fairly standard result for clay-hosted REEs. The company does not meaningfully break down the data in a raft of some 15 other drill results announced today, which include: 

• 29m @ 0.11% TREO from 24m depth 

• 27m @ 0.12% TREO from 20m depth 

• 10m @ 0.21% TREO from 28m depth 

• 12m @ 0.23% TREO from 22m depth 

Lower concentrations are present at shallower depths, including near-surface. 

Untested areas to be explored in 2023

“Drilling has confirmed we have a substantial clay hosted REE discovery at Tower, at Mt. Clere,” Krakatoa Resources CEO Mark Major said. 

“This fantastic result represents a major step forward for shareholders as we advance to define our maiden JORC mineral resource estimate.” 

“There is still a lot of untested area around the Tower region as well as as in the vast 2,300km² tenement package. We will look at these areas during 2023.

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