EMU NL (EMU) has begun 2023 with a new prize in sight: a clay-hosted heavy rare earth project in Western Australia.
The company has pegged 1000 sqkm of prospective tenements just down the road from OD6 Metals’ (OD6) Splinter Rocks project, capturing what it suspects could be the last unpegged Booanya granite suite ground available in an area that is garnering attention for its rare earths potential and its proximity to the Esperance port.
EMU CEO Doug Grewar said the company’s search for rare earths opportunities last year led it to the Condingup project
“I’m pleased to say we’ve recently found some cracking good land both here in Western Australia and in Queensland,” he said.
“The Condingup tenements overlay a suite of rocks known as the Booanya Granites, and we recognise those for their potential enrichment with high-grade rare earths concentrated in the blanket of weathered clays.
“We’ve been able to peg the last remaining open tenements — we believe — in the area.
“The project gives us the opportunity to look for shallow, heavy magnetic rare earth elements, which would be the most desirable rare earths we could find.
“The port, the sealed roads and the infrastructure nearby provide the opportunity to quite easily develop those projects.”
A single historic sample from one of the tenements showed elevated total rare earth oxides of 1047 parts per million (ppm).
So, over the next six months, EMU will work to secure approvals for access to the Condingup area and progress towards a drilling program there before the middle of the year.
Not a long way west of Condingup, in geological terms, lies EMU’s REE Merredin project, in the central WA Wheatbelt. Work will be carried out concurrently there.
And, at the end of far north Queensland’s wet season, EMU will begin on-ground exploration at its 850 sqkm earn-in joint venture (JV) project with TSXV-listed Rugby Resources at Georgetown. It’s an early-stage exploration opportunity in which EMU can earn up to 80 per cent equity.
EMU continues its base and precious metals exploration efforts at its existing portfolio of gold, nickel, copper and tungsten projects.
EMU non-executive director Gavin Rutherford said work would be funded thanks to an underwritten rights issue.
“It’s a deeply discounted rights issue that has been structured to both thank and reward our shareholders,” he said.
“Rather than following a more standard model where a placement would be completed, all our shareholders have the opportunity to share in what we’re expecting to be a very good period for EMU.
“When shareholders do their maths, they will understand how little it’ll cost them to duplicate their position or at least average down their investment cost.
“Personally, I think our Condingup project is the last REE train leaving the station. There’s just such a considerable area of highly prospective rare earths country in this, may I call it, burgeoning new province.
“Our message to both current shareholders and potential investors is ‘follow our story and don’t miss the ride!’.”