The Mount Isa region has thrown up another rare earths rarity.

Basin Energy (ASX:BSN) says it has acquired what is among the most prospective uranium and rare earths holdings in the state’s North West.

The uranium occurs as palaeochannel and shear-hosted deposits aligned to Paladin Energy Limited’s (ASX:PDN) Valhalla uranium project, west of Mount Isa.

Main image: Base Energy’s Newmans prospect sits 20km south of the Sybella prospect pictured here. The Mount-Isa smelter and acid plant are in the background.

The Valhalla ground was surveyed by Summit Resources before its acquisition by Paladin, Mr Moorhouse said.

To the south of the lease, rare earths are hosted in the same granite as Red Metal Limited’s (ASX:RDM) Sybella discovery.

The lease covers around 5,800 km² west of Mount Isa. The Newmans prospect sits 20 km south of Sybella and 40 km from Mount Isa.

Access adds value

Mr Moorhouse said the project’s point of difference was its relative ease of processing and its proximity to established infrastructure.

“So you have a location next to infrastructure, power, water, roads, workforce. Everything you need is there,” he said.

He said Red Metal had demonstrated scale and a viable model and was de-risking the processing equation.

Basin’s holding offered further options across the same district, Mr Moorehouse said.

“It’s a slightly different model here,” Mr Moorhouse said.

Related: Basin Energy expanding Sybella-Barkly footprint

The deposits were potentially smaller in scale but higher in grade and shallow, making the ground strategically compelling, he said.

Basin was well funded, with an oversubscribed placement raising $1.25 million at 2.5c per share and a further $1 million in the bank.

The company had also secured a Queensland Government Collaborative Exploration Initiative (CEI) grant to help fund the drilling program.

“We’ll be drilling again within the next few weeks. And we’ll be doing at least two, probably three more small programs this year,” Mr Moorhouse said.

The first program would test whether mineralisation was continuous across the strike length already identified, he said.

A second program to the west would test a similar rare earths concept under separate CEI funding, demonstrating the region’s breadth.

Drilling had intersected a mix of magnet rare earths, including dysprosium, which is used in wind turbines.