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Writer's pictureHelen Barling

Regener8 Resources beefs up WA future metals project

Updated: Apr 17


Regener8 Resources is set to beef up its East Ponton future metals project with the application of two adjacent exploration licences. Credit: File

Regener8 Resources is looking to beef up its strategic landholding to more than 1300 square kilometres at its East Ponton future metals project near Kalgoorlie, with two new exploration licence applications.


Early last month, the company nailed down the acquisition of Seven Sisters, in addition to its Grasshopper tenements, through an option agreement with private company Beau Resources. The two new applications would join up and extend the duo, forming a district-scale tenement package prospective for a gamut of critical and precious metals.


Management’s recent deep dive into the ground’s historical dataset revealed more than a few promising signs for rare earths, lithium, gold and iron-oxide copper-gold (IOCG) mineralisation in its newly-acquired patch.


East Ponton lies a mere 40km from known rare earths-bearing carbonatites within the protected Queen Victoria Spring Nature Reserve. The three key geological features in the reserve are the Cundeelee intrusion, the Ponton intrusion and the Ponton Dyke carbonatite.


Mining giant BHP previously described the Cundeelee intrusion as the “largest, effectively untested carbonatite in the world”.


Historical drilling and assays from Ponton Dyke – most recently held by Galaxy Resources, which has since merged with Orocobre – delivered some of Australia’s best-ever rare earths intersections. Results show 16m grading 14.48 per cent total rare earth oxides (TREO) and 28m going 10.5 per cent TREO, including 6m at 20.57 per cent TREO.


Interestingly, the trio of intriguing carbonatite intrusions share the wider neighbourhood with another globally-significant carbonatite intrusion – Lynas Rare Earths’ Mt Weld carbonatite that houses a mammoth 54 million tonnes averaging 5.3 per cent TREO.


The Cundeelee and Mt Weld intrusions display a highly-magnetic outer zone surrounding an inner zone of lower magnetism. Regener8 notes similar magnetic signatures are present in several of the southern anomalies on its Seven Sisters tenements.


With more than a few promising signs of nearby rare earths enrichment, the company recently reanalysed drill samples taken during a 2013 AngloGold Ashanti campaign at the Grasshopper prospect, which lies beneath a blanket of shallow cover adjacent to the nearby Cundeelee carbonatite and Ponton Dyke.


Results from the reanalysis threw up consistent figures of 896, 871, 820 and 757 parts per million TREO, peaking at 1698ppm TREO, with several tantalising assays showing the highest concentrations at the end-of-hole intervals. Elevated phosphorous, strontium and barium were also returned – key pathfinder elements in detecting carbonatites.


At Seven Sisters, a clutch of holes sunk by Dominion Mining in 2008 in its elusive hunt for gold pulled up an 11m stretch of pegmatite from depths of about 40m. With the lithium tsunami undetected by even the most astute explorer, the holes were not analysed for the silvery-white metal at the time. But Regener8 says the presence of the unanalysed pegmatites provides an immediate follow-up target.


Dominion’s efforts with the drillbit in the area unveiled a suite of anomalous intercepts at the Corona prospect, including an encouraging 3m hit grading 2.55 grams per tonne gold. Corona lies 100km south-east along strike of the Camaro prospect, where previous explorers kicked up 3m running at 40.33g/t gold.


Squaring away a district-scale tenement package in an era of tightly-held tenure is a skill of its own accord. If Regener8 is as savvy with its exploration expertise in an area plump with both critical and precious metals, it will be one to keep an eye on.


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

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