PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Mineral sands developer Northern Minerals has set a A$5-million exploration budget for the 2021/21 financial year at its Browns Range project, in Western Australia.
Drill rigs are expected on site in mid October, the company said on Tuesday, with the exploration programme focused on increasing the mineral resource and the potential mine life of the Browns Range project.
The company is planning some 8 000 m of reverse circulation drilling before the end of 2020, and the drill programme will test several new targets as well as follow up on significant drilling intersections at a number of prospects.
“This significant commitment to exploration in the next 12 months will underpin the company’s ongoing ambition to realise the potential of Browns Range beyond the pilot plant project, which if successful, would create significantly greater opportunity for the company,” said CEO Mark Tory.
The drilling results, along with pilot plant test work, will feed into a new feasibility study to evaluate the potential for a commercial, larger scale heavy rare earths plant.