Premier eyes drilling at rare-earth project after promising trenching results
JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Aim-listed multicommodity natural resources company Premier African Minerals said on Wednesday that its Zimbabwe-based rare-earth project would likely be the next complex to undergo additional drilling.
Throughout 2013, Premier continued trenching the multiphased rare-earth elements- (REE-) enriched carbonatite surface complex of the Katete project, in Matabeleland North, near the Zambian border, continuously striking mineralisation at surface level in the mineralised zones.
"The ongoing trenching at Katete has continued to produce promising results. The company believes that Katete will be the next project to undergo a further drilling programme in addition to the completion of mineralogical and metallurgical testwork and the delineation of a Samrec Code-compliant resource statement during the course of 2014,” Premier CEO George Roach said.
This followed the recently completed drilling programme at Premier’s 49%-owned RHA tungsten project, also in Zimbabwe.
Premier, in December, completed the additional drilling of Lode 2A, with the completion of 12 inclined diamond drill holes totalling 1 300.7 m – the metallurgical testwork results of which would guide the finalisation of offtake and marketing agreements.
Last month, Premier entered into a nonbinding memorandum of understanding (MoU) with an offtake partner, which would acquire tungsten from the tungsten project.
The MoU was the first step for the commercialisation of the project.
“Our primary focus remains the early reopening of this mine and the updating of the geological model and resource statement, [which,] together with the confirmatory metallurgical work being undertaken, are important steps in facilitating this,” Roach said.
Comments
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation