Dr. Donald Ranta reports
RARE ELEMENT SUMMARIZES RESULTS FROM ITS 2010 REE EXPLORATION PROGRAM AND OUTLINES ITS 2011 REE EXPLORATION PROGRAM
Rare Element Resources Ltd. has released a summary of results from its 2010 rare earth
element exploration program and an outline of plans for the 2011
program at the Bear Lodge property in northeastern Wyoming, United States. 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 Southwest and Bull Hill Northwest 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;
- 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 testwork and a
preliminary feasibility study. Our exploration team is gearing up for a
great year!"
Details of the resource definition and exploration drilling programs
were reported previously in news releases dated Sept. 15, 2010, Nov. 9, 2010, Jan. 10, 2011, Feb. 7, 2011, and April 6, 2011.
Details of the bulk sample drilling were reported in a news release
dated Oct. 12, 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 May 26, 2010.
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. 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 feet to 500 feet (91 metres to 152 metres) 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 subparallel 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 sulphide is termed transitional carbonatite. The transitional carbonatite exhibits significant variability with
regard to proportions of groundmass calcite, iron and manganese oxides,
and relict sulphide, and the company is undertaking studies to further
classify the unit and determine the subtype 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.
The diatreme breccias are distributed along a northwesterly
alignment. The breccias are spatially associated with the
REE-mineralized bodies. REE assay values are reported by convention as the combined oxide
equivalents (REO) of the 15 elements in the lanthanide series plus
yttrium. The oxide equivalents are approximately 15.6 per cent 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).
Bull Hill Southwest resource area
Fifty core holes totalling 32,729 feet (9,978 m) were drilled in the Bull
Hill SW resource area in 2010. Most of the holes were drilled along a N45
azimuth, at 100- or 200-foot spacing from a series of sites along a
N45-trending resource evaluation grid established in conjunction with
Ore Reserves Engineering, the company's resource estimation consultant. Inclination angles were most commonly at minus-45 degrees and
minus-70 degrees, or at minor deviations from those angles. Several of the holes
were drilled on the same grid at an azimuth of S45 degrees, again at
inclination angles of at or near minus-45 degrees and minus-70 degrees. Drilling results
confirm that the target FMR and carbonatite bodies exhibit strong REE
mineralization over a strike length of more than 1,400 feet (426 m).
Interpretive correlations of drill intercepts suggest a structural bias
of the mineralized bodies toward vertical or near vertical dips.
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.
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. 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 (36 m) and subordinate,
subparallel dikes and stockwork. There may be a second north-trending
zone of mineralized dikes at the southeastern end of the current
resource.
Bull Hill Northwest resource area
Nine core holes totalling 5,694 feet (1,736 m) were drilled in the Bull
Hill NW resource area in 2010. 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 feet at 11.85 grams per tonne 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 totalling 1,631 feet (497 m) were drilled at the Whitetail
Ridge target in 2010. 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 per cent REO in a near-surface
intercept from nil 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 per cent REO. The holes drilled during the 2010 program were
sited based on detailed geological mapping, 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 1,250 feet (380
metres) by 950 feet (290 metres). The enveloping geophysical anomaly is
larger and may indicate a broader distribution of REE mineralization
beneath the extensive soil and colluvial cover.
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.
Bull Hill West target
Two core holes totalling 2,355 feet (718 m) were collared in the Bull Hill
West target area. Two other holes drilled in the Bull Hill
SW resource area penetrated the Bull Hill West target area at depth.
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, 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. The drill holes
totalled 1,390 feet (424 m) and were collared just south of the Carbon
gold target and about 1,200 feet (366 m) 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. 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
5,000 feet (1,500 m) in length.
The drilling data were interpreted using LeapFrog 3-D software.
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 eight tonnes 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 85 millimetres) and HQ (diameter 63.5 mm) core holes that penetrate the
oxide zone in the Bull Hill Southwest REE deposit. The holes were
drilled from closely spaced sites near the centre 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 (58 m). Grades are likely to range between 2 per cent and
15 per cent 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 a total footage of 2,117 feet (645 m) of REE-mineralized FMR material.
Thirty of the drill holes are PQ-size holes for a total footage of 1,753
feet (534 m) of FMR material, and 10 of the holes are HQ-size, with a
total footage of 364 feet (111 m) of FMR material. The total weight
of REE-mineralized material collected from the drilling program is
about 12,700 pounds (5,773 kilograms). Low-grade stockwork material collected
during the drilling is currently undergoing metallurgical testwork at
Hazen Research of Golden, Colo., 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 a total weight of about 6,750 pounds
(3,068 kilograms). Collectively, the company has a total stockpile of about 9.7
tons (8.8 tonnes) of FMR material for use in the pilot plant testwork.
The material is stored currently at one of the company's leased
warehouses in Sundance, Wyo. 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.
Dr. Donald E. Ranta, PhD, PGeo, president and chief executive officer of the company, 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 which takes full responsibility for content.
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