Soil sampling at Sulima West has identified a 500 m x 300 m zone with greater than 2% TREO, with high-grade core of more than 4% TREO
London-listed Pensana says results from a soil sampling programme at the Sulima West target, at its Coola licence, in Angola, clearly identify an area of about 500 m by 300 m, or 15 ha, with total rare earth oxides (TREO) grading more than 2%.
Notably, the area contains a core zone of high-grade soils reporting grades higher than 4% TREO.
Pensana last year undertook soil sampling at the Sulima West and Benge Novo targets, which are located on its Coola exploration licence north of the Longonjo rare earths project, in Angola.
Work on the Benge Novo alkaline complex has found deeply weathered clays for bauxite and ionic clay potential, with clays returning grades of up to 1 600 parts per million TREO.
Pensana exploration manager Grant Hayward comments that the Sulima West target represents the near-surface expression of deeply weathered supergene-enriched carbonatite as is the case at Longonjo.
The company started with ground geophysical surveys in August, the results of which will be used for further target generation.
Pensana also plans to undertake more trench and pit sampling of the soil anomaly and prospective geophysical targets later in the year, once the geophysical data has been interpreted.
The company has completed multiple field programmes on the Coola exploration licence since May 2020.