Ark Mines muscles up Sandy Mitchell drilling efforts

Ark Mines has brought in a second rig to ramp up drilling at its Sandy Mitchell rare earths project after encouraging early assays. The mounted aircore reverse circulation rig (pictured above) is now on site along with the company’s auger drill rig. It will be used for multi-phase extension drill works to help define and expand the resource tonnage at the far north Queensland project, which lies 100km north of Chillagoe. The RC rig has capacity to complete up to 200m of drilling daily at extended maximum drill depths of 24m, a significant increase from average depths of about 10.5m in the Phase One drill program. “We are pleased to announce the commission of our second drill rig, which will enable us to significantly expand the size and scope of our drill program at Sandy Mitchell and move towards our stated target to declare a maiden resource estimate in compliance with the 2012 JORC Code," Ark Mines executive director Ben Emery said. "With all drilling equipment now on site and fully operational, we are excited by the opportunity to build off our promising Phase One drill results." Related: Newcomer NeoDys homes in on rare earth potential Every assayed sample, from surface to end of hole, in the 144-hole Phase One drilling campaign carried rare earth elements. This comprised all critical Light Rare Earths as well as Heavy Rare Earths including dysprosium, terbium, holmium, erbium, thulium, ytterbium, yttrium and excluding only lutetium. (Full results HERE) The assay grades achieved are considered commercial and highly encouraging given Sandy Mitchell is a very large (147sq km) sand deposit. With the material amenable to panning a concentrate, this opens the way for a low-cost, fast start-up using straightforward beneficiation by gravity processing. The extension drill program has been planned to test the full REE anomaly at Sandy Mitchell, where initial drill results covered an area of only 1.3sq km – just 1.2 per cent of the peak radiometric reading on the lease. Meanwhile, Ark expects to receive metallurgical test results during the December quarter, which will provide an assessment of initial samples including an evaluation of the suitability of beneficiation by gravity. Elsewhere on site, Ark’s project team has established water bore monitoring holes prior to the onset of wet season. This means the company can establish a baseline groundwater and surface water study for the dry season, which will accelerate its submissions in the mining approvals process once wet season data has been incorporated.

Ark Mines muscles up Sandy Mitchell drilling efforts

Industry Queensland

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