Drilling Underway at the Hyperion REE Prospect Arkun Project
Released
Released
Announcement PDF
ASX Code: IPT
APRIL 19, 2024
Drilling Underway at the Hyperion REE Prospect, Arkun Project, WA
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Drilling is well underway at the Hyperion Rare Earth Element (REE) Prospect to test a large Rare Earth
Element soil geochemistry anomaly.
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The soil anomaly covers at least a 3 km2 area at greater than 1,000 ppm Total Rare Earth Oxide (TREO +
Y) with peak values up to 5,880 ppm (0.59%) TREO+Y and Nd+Pr of up to 21%.
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The soil anomaly is hosted in weathered granite and is prospective for a large clay-hosted REE deposit.
An aircore drill programme is now well underway at Impact Minerals Limited's (ASX:IPT) Hyperion REE
prospect, which is part of the 100% owned Arkun Project, located 150km east of Perth in the emerging
mineral province of southwest Western Australia ( Figure 1, ASX Release April 16th 2024).
The drill programme, comprising approximately 40 holes for 2000 metres will test the significant REE soil
geochemistry anomaly identified at Hyperion, where results of up to 5,880 parts per million (ppm) Total
Rare Earth Element Oxides and Yttrium (TREO +Y) were reported previously (ASX Release 4th January 2024).
These are some of the highest TREO-in-soil results reported recently in Western Australia. Other REE soil
geochemistry anomalies have been identified at Swordfish and Horseshoe (Figure 2 and ASX Releases
January 4th 2024 and June 1st 2023).
Hyperion Prospect
The soil geochemistry anomaly at Hyperion covers an area of more than 3 km2 at greater than 1,000 ppm
TREO+Y at Hyperion (Figure 2). Five samples returned greater than 2,500 ppm TREO+Y with a peak value of
5,880 ppm (0.58%) TREO+Y.
Within the anomaly, two broad northwest-southeast trending zones of more than 1,500 ppm TREO+Y-insoils extend for 2.5 km along-trend and are open in both directions (Figure 2).
The anomaly has an average neodymium plus praseodymium percentage of about 20%, typical of most
regolith-hosted mineralisation in the region with Heavy REE contents of between 54 ppm and 200 ppm
within the >1,000 ppm parts of the anomaly (ASX Release January 4th 2024). This is encouraging for
discovering the more economically compelling Heavy Rare Earths close to the surface.
The Hyperion anomaly is underlain by a well-preserved laterite (weathering) profile developed on very
weathered granite bedrock, the likely source of the REE.
Figure 1. Location and regional geological setting of Impact’s Arkun and other projects in the emerging
mineral province of southwest Western Australia. Also shown are recent additions to the Arkun project (ASX
Release March 14th 2024). Significant nickel deposits are shown in orange, lithium deposits in green and gold
deposits in yellow.
ASX:IPT | ABN 52 119 062 261
Geophysical modelling of Impact's previous airborne electromagnetic (EM) survey covers part of the
Hyperion anomaly and shows a possible vertical thickness of up to 60 metres of conductive clays across
much of the Hyperion anomaly (Section Line A-A’, Figures 2 and 3, ASX Release 18th September 2023). This
suggests a significant volume of clay that may host REE mineralisation is present close to the surface (Figure
3).
Together, this data indicates Hyperion has both the areal and depth extent to be a very large and exciting
target for clay-hosted REE mineralisation immediately below the laterite cap, which is only a few metres
thick in most places. This is a priority area for drilling.
Figure 2. Hyperion REE Prospect: TREO+Y results and location of planned drill collars noted by black stars
As interpreted from regional magnetic data, the host granite is highly evolved and in sharp contact with
mafic rocks to the east (Figures 1 and 2). This northwest-southeast trending contact is a major deep-seated
terrane-bounding structure within the regional Corrigin Tectonic Zone and has also been identified in the
airborne EM data (Figures 1 and 3).
This tectonic setting is similar to other recently reported REE mineralisation associated with evolved granites
in the southwest of Western Australia and augurs well for further exploration at Arkun. Examples include
Karlonning (Codrus Resources Ltd), Mukinbudin (Caprice Resources Ltd), Bencubbin (Cygnus Metals Ltd),
Burracoppin (Moho Resources Ltd), Trayning (Magnetic Resources Ltd) and Marvel Loch East (Venus Metals
Corporation).
ASX:IPT | ABN 52 119 062 261
Figure 3. Conductivity cross-section of airborne EM data showing a conductive (red colours) layer up to
60 m thick across the Hyperion REE anomaly. This near-surface layer is caused by conductive clays in the
weathering profile. The conductivity image was produced by Sensore Ltd using their proprietary 2.5D
inversion algorithm. The eastern contact of the host granite is marked by a resistive zone, which is
interpreted as a major structure.
Aim of the Drill Programme
At this stage, the nature, depth, and thickness of the REE mineralisation at Hyperion are unknown. The
aircore drill programme aims to test the depth of the weathered zone and the REE content and obtain
samples for metallurgical test work.
Recent experience shows that elevated REE results only sometimes correlate with easily leachable clays, and
the metallurgical performance of the clay is a more important criterion for early-stage exploration
assessment than the grade or tonnage of the regolith hosting the clays. Further details are provided below.
Assays and results of the drilling are expected towards the end of Q2 of 2024.
About Rare Earth Deposits
Rare Earth Elements, which are increasingly being used in a wide range of new technology industries,
include Lanthanum (La), Cerium (Ce), Neodymium (Nd), Praseodymium (Pr), Samarium (Sm), Dysprosium
(Dy), Gadolinium (Gd), Holmium (Ho), Europium (Eu), Erbium (Er), Terbium (Tb), Thulium (Tm), Ytterbium
(Yb), Lutetium (Lu). Yttrium (Y) is also commonly quoted as it is often intimately associated with rare earth
element mineralisation. Rare Earth Elements are quoted as oxides, converted from the elemental results
into oxide via accepted stoichiometric conversion ratios.
Whilst the classification of rare earth elements varies, typically, the results are divided into Light Rare Earths
(LREE or LREO; La, Ce, Nd, Pr) and Heavy Rare Earths, including ‘magnet’ rare earths (MREO; Nd, Pr, Dy, Tb)
and Critical Rare Earths (CREO; Nd, Dy, Eu, Y and Tb).
How the Rare Earth Elements occur within fresh and weathered rocks is an essential economic constraint in
exploration for REE mineralisation, particularly when hosted by weathered rocks.
The well-known deposits of REE hosted in clays of southwest China, which include a high proportion of
valuable heavy rare earth elements, occur as weakly bound ions in the clay, allowing them to be recovered
by leaching with simple solutions (sodium chloride or ammonium sulphate) with some weak acid.
ASX:IPT | ABN 52 119 062 261
Recent exploration in Western Australia has identified vast expanses of regolith containing REE in clays and
variably weathered bedrock and occasionally in laterite at the very top of the weathered profile. These
deposits typically comprise dominant proportions of colloidal REEs, which are more strongly bound than the
ionic clays, as well as variable amounts of refractory primary REE minerals such as monazite, xenotime and
zircon.
Weak acids cannot digest the colloidal and primary REEs. These require stronger acids, longer leach times,
and higher temperatures to be processed and, consequently, are more expensive to extract. Determining
the type of REE present and the likely metallurgical flow sheet required are the critical factors to resolve as
quickly as possible in REE exploration.
About the Arkun Project
Impact’s Arkun Project is centred about 200 km southeast of Perth and comprises eight tenements covering
a total area of 1,900 km2 between the towns of Quairaiding, Corrigin and Brookton (Figure 1).
The Project covers a significant part of the Corrigin Tectonic Zone, a prominent crustal-scale feature
interpreted as an exhumed granulite-metamorphosed granite-greenstone terrane intruded by various
younger mid-crustal granites.
The Corrigin Tectonic Zone is a tectonic assemblage of different geological domains associated with
significant mineral deposits such as the very large Julimar PGE-Ni-Cu deposit (>10 Moz of palladium plus
nickel and copper), the Katanning gold deposit (>3 Moz gold) and the giant Greenbushes lithium-tantalum
deposit. Arkun was initially staked within the Zone as it was interpreted to contain strong nickel, copper and
platinum group element prospectivity associated with a suite of mafic and ultramafic intrusions similar to
the host rocks at Julimar (ASX: CHN) and Yarawindah Brook (ASX:CPN). The Zone is also prospective for iron,
rare earth elements and vanadium.
COMPLIANCE STATEMENT
This report contains no new Exploration Results.
Dr Michael G Jones
Managing Director
Competent Persons Statement
The review of results in this report is based on information compiled by Mr Roland Gotthard, a Member of the Australasian
Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and a consultant to Impact Minerals Limited. He has sufficient experience which is relevant
to the style of mineralisation and types of deposits under consideration and to the activity that he is undertaking to qualify as
a Competent Person as defined in the 2012 edition of the Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral
Resources and Ore Reserves (the JORC Code). Mr Gotthard has consented to including the matters in the report based on his
information in the form and context in which it appears.
ASX:IPT | ABN 52 119 062 261
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