Locksley Resources kicks off dual US rare earths and antimony drilling blitz

A diamond rig has been move to site for the start of a maiden drilling campaign at Locksley Resources’ Mojave rare earths and antimony project in California.

Locksley Resources (ASX: LKY) has shifted its Mojave Project in California into top gear, kicking off a maiden drilling program at the company’s El Campo rare earths prospect.

Meanwhile, the company has simultaneously locked in full approval to launch an expanded drilling campaign at its nearby Desert Antimony mine.

Earthmoving equipment has now rolled into El Campo to prepare the drill pads ahead of a quick five-hole, 750-metre diamond drilling campaign designed to probe the depths and scale of the high-grade mineralisation already mapped at surface.

Sitting just five kilometres from the world-class Mountain Pass rare earths mine, the prospect has the potential to thrust Locksley onto the frontline of America’s critical minerals revival.

We are finishing 2025 with strong momentum. Locksley Resources Managing Director and CEO Kerrie Matthews

The maiden program marks more than a routine technical step – It is also the first strike in the company’s broader mine-to-market vision aimed at reshaping how the United States sources, processes and secures its own rare earths.

Locksley says the drill bit will be aimed at the source of some eye-catching surface numbers, where earlier rock chips returned up to 12.1 per cent total rare earth oxides (TREO) and an impressive 3.19 per cent neodymium-praseodymium (NdPr) - the prized metals used in high-strength magnets for electric vehicles, wind turbines and even defence systems.

The holes will also test two competing geological theories. One points to mineralisation layered neatly along natural rock contacts, while the other suggests the rare earths were injected into place by a sheared, carbonatite-charged fault system.

Whichever model proves right, the prize is the same. A discovery at El Campo could mark the emergence of a fresh, high-grade American rare earths source at a time when the nation is scrambling to build its own supply chain and break its dependence on offshore producers.

Once the final core is pulled at El Campo, the drill rig won’t miss a beat, moving straight to the company’s Desert Antimony mine, where Locksley has now paid the all-important reclamation bond to secure final approval from the US Bureau of Land Management for a new drilling blitz.

With the green light now in place for the company’s expanded exploration campaign, the gates have swung open to punch out a 16-hole, 2,300-metre antimony assault across the prospect at the Main and North target zones.

The Desert Antimony prospect is quickly emerging as one of the highest-grade antimony occurrences known in the United States. Tucked inside Locksley’s broader Mojave project in California’s San Bernardino County, the old mine hasn’t seen a pick or shovel since 1937, although it still appears to pack plenty of punch.

Surface sampling carried out last year lit up the boards like a pinball machine, returning staggering grades of up to 46 per cent antimony and, remarkably, more than a kilogram of silver per tonne, setting the scene for a renewed exploration focus on the prospect.

Adding even more intrigue, a high-resolution LiDAR survey recently mapped 236 metres of historic underground development. The scan revealed four mining levels stretched along a 130-metre strike, with three quartz-carbonate-stibnite veins likely targeted by miners nearly a century ago.

Locksley says the resulting 3D model has given the company an unprecedented view of the subsurface, laying out the geometry of old adits, tunnels and working faces with pinpoint clarity.

At the heart of the company’s ambitions is Washington’s desire to rebuild its own domestic critical minerals backbone after a global supply squeeze laid bare the West’s dangerous reliance on foreign sources. Antimony, as a key metal used in semiconductors, batteries and military-grade alloys, has shot to the top of the priority list.

China, which controls nearly 80 per cent of global production, sent shockwaves through the market in 2024 when it slapped an export ban on the metal, triggering a blistering 300 per cent price surge to more than US$55,000 (A$82,000) a tonne.

Locksley’s answer is a bold mine-to-market play aimed at cutting that cord. The company plans to rapidly push the Desert Antimony prospect through resource development while partnering with leading US institutions, including Rice University and Hazen Research, to develop next-generation processing and separation technologies.

If the drilling delivers what early sampling and LiDAR have hinted at, the project could become a cornerstone in America’s push to reclaim its critical minerals independence.

By commencing operations at El Campo and finalising the bond for DAM, we have effectively opened two fronts for exploration. The diamond drill rig at El Campo will mobilise directly to the DAM prospect upon completion of the El Campo REE program.

Locksley Resources Managing Director and CEO Kerrie Matthews

Management says the back-to-back drill programs will squeeze maximum value out of the rig and fire off a steady stream of catalysts, setting up a continuous flow of exploration news and data right through Q1 and Q2 of 2026.

With rare earths on one side of its tenure and antimony on the other, both set against the backdrop of rising geopolitical urgency and America’s scramble to rebuild domestic supply chains, Locksley now has two shots at goal.

As the rods start to turn, Locksley will enter a strong run of news flow and punters will get a first glimpse of what treasures may be lurking beneath.

Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: office@bullsnbears.com.au