BRE - Sulista West - New Results

[John]

https://investors.brazilianrareearths.com/announcements/6978980

Good news from BRE...drilling at Sulista West has confirmed some great grades with big numbers for NdPr, DyTb, and even some scandium and uranium showing up. This area spans a massive x10 the size of their Monte Alto project.


This looks like it could shape up to be a genuinely world-class deposit if results keep trending like this. Definitely one to watch.

What do others think?

 

[JimNdPr]

Hi John – I agree, the newest drill results at Sulista West are indeed world-class. However, when it comes to hard-rock REE deposits, BRE redefined what world-class means with the discovery of Monte Alto. The latest Sulista drilling results compare very favorably to Mountain Pass and Mt. Weld, the only producing western hard-rock deposits. The grade and composition of mineralization that BRE has discovered in Bahia presents hard-rock’s most compelling challenge to global IAC dominance (particularly with regard to DyTb whose production is entirely confined to the ionic clays of South-East Asia).

The bull case for BRE, as well as the main question, has been that the Rocha da Rocha province contains more Monte Altos – that their peerless mineralization with its evergreen margins possesses the scale to truly dominate western REE supply.

What these most recent drilling results indicate is exactly that – Monte Alto was not an anomaly, but rather part of a consistent trend in a larger anomalous region. Drilling at Sulista returned multiple high-grade intercepts including 20.4m at 11.8% TREO (from 18m), 12m at 12.5% TREO (from 33m) and 5.5m at 10.7% TREO (from 128m). The composition and grade of these cores closely resembles Monte Alto with NdPr and DyTb in excess of 25,000 ppm and 1000 ppm respectively. This is BRE making good on their promise to find more of the REE-Nb-Sc-Ta-U mineralization.

Moreover, Sulista West is just the tip of the iceberg. Sulista East, North, and the Outcrop Ridge discovery are equally prospective. Every drill, every surface sample, seems to rhyme with Monte Alto. It appears that drilling in Sulista is far from over, setting aside what remains to be discovered at Pele and Velinhas. BRE will continue to drill for years to come, and this is a good thing. They’ve not only proven that there is much more to find in the immense Rocha da Rocha, but also that they can find it. Their “exploration pathfinder” model, involving surface sampling, radiometric reconnaissance, and auger drilling, is poised to accelerate the exploration timeline and contract what would otherwise be a dauntingly large province.

 

[Fundamental]

Fascinating results, even disregarding the Company hype it still looks promising. What caught my eye is the possibilities for new/revised forms of RE emplacement on a regional scale. I have not done an exact tie in yet, but taking into consideration Plate tectonics, this area of Brazil appears to be contiguous to Central Angola; implying that there may be similar mineralisation mechanism for Rare Earth emplacement at Sulima West in the Benguela Province, which has also produced highly anomalous assays from initial testing.

 

[John]

Hi John – I agree, the newest drill results at Sulista West are indeed world-class. However, when it comes to hard-rock REE deposits, BRE redefined what world-class means with the discovery of Monte Alto. The latest Sulista drilling results compare very favorably to Mountain Pass and Mt. Weld, the only producing western hard-rock deposits. The grade and composition of mineralization that BRE has discovered in Bahia presents hard-rock’s most compelling challenge to global IAC dominance (particularly with regard to DyTb whose production is entirely confined to the ionic clays of South-East Asia).

The bull case for BRE, as well as the main question, has been that the Rocha da Rocha province contains more Monte Altos – that their peerless mineralization with its evergreen margins possesses the scale to truly dominate western REE supply.

What these most recent drilling results indicate is exactly that – Monte Alto was not an anomaly, but rather part of a consistent trend in a larger anomalous region. Drilling at Sulista returned multiple high-grade intercepts including 20.4m at 11.8% TREO (from 18m), 12m at 12.5% TREO (from 33m) and 5.5m at 10.7% TREO (from 128m). The composition and grade of these cores closely resembles Monte Alto with NdPr and DyTb in excess of 25,000 ppm and 1000 ppm respectively. This is BRE making good on their promise to find more of the REE-Nb-Sc-Ta-U mineralization.

Moreover, Sulista West is just the tip of the iceberg. Sulista East, North, and the Outcrop Ridge discovery are equally prospective. Every drill, every surface sample, seems to rhyme with Monte Alto. It appears that drilling in Sulista is far from over, setting aside what remains to be discovered at Pele and Velinhas. BRE will continue to drill for years to come, and this is a good thing. They’ve not only proven that there is much more to find in the immense Rocha da Rocha, but also that they can find it. Their “exploration pathfinder” model, involving surface sampling, radiometric reconnaissance, and auger drilling, is poised to accelerate the exploration timeline and contract what would otherwise be a dauntingly large province.

Thanks @JimNdPr

I have been working on the HREE rankings. And it is amazing how most companies who say they are in the HREE, but their Tb and Dy are usually byproducts and in very small quantities.

The west needs these HREE, at scale, and soon!

Do you know if there has been any talk from BRE about how they might be able to accelerate their HREE development work? Having a look at all these downstream magnet producers talking about ramping up production....but where are they going to get their HRREs?

 

[Fundamental]

You'r not wrong about By-products and small quantities John; many struggle to meet the 3%DyTb-97%NdPr ratio, which has been the required standard for high-end magnet production. It gets even worse when you look at some of the actual grades, with many of the Ionic Clay projects lucky to make more than 50ppm HREE and some even claiming that they have "high grade" at 30ppm! One redeeming factor seems to be that the HREE's generally have better recoveries than MREE's.

 

[John]

You'r not wrong about By-products and small quantities John; many struggle to meet the 3%DyTb-97%NdPr ratio, which has been the required standard for high-end magnet production. It gets even worse when you look at some of the actual grades, with many of the Ionic Clay projects lucky to make more than 50ppm HREE and some even claiming that they have "high grade" at 30ppm! One redeeming factor seems to be that the HREE's generally have better recoveries than MREE's.

Hi @Fundamental

I have been working on the understanding that Heavy REE typically have recovery rates of around 50-85%, whilst Light REE typically have recovery rates of about 80-95%. Also i have not seen MREE term used before. I assume that means "Medium" REE? What would their recovery rates be (approx).

 

[Fundamental]

MREE=Magnetic REE: not a good term I agree, but often used by companies targeting NdPr production.

As to recoveries it probably depends on the deposit, but for ICA's it certainly looks like they improve as you go down the chain.
I will let you know if I find any that are different.

 

[John]

Thanks for that @Fundamental

I always use the stated recovery rates if they have that data. But alot don't...so i just use the above approximations.

 

[Fundamental]

Which is perfectly acceptable as most projects are targeting NdPr as their main revenue contributor. However we need to realise that companies that don't drop the Ce out of their concentrate, may have larger volumes but will certainly receive lower prices. Also before there is a sudden rush to find and develop HREE mines, they may have a high product value, but the demand tonnage is only a small fraction of the Market, overproduction could rapidly adjust prices, and it is not as if you can put a few thousand tons of Dysprosium in a Swiss bank vault, as they did with Diamonds.

 

[John]

Which is perfectly acceptable as most projects are targeting NdPr as their main revenue contributor. However we need to realise that companies that don't drop the Ce out of their concentrate, may have larger volumes but will certainly receive lower prices. Also before there is a sudden rush to find and develop HREE mines, they may have a high product value, but the demand tonnage is only a small fraction of the Market, overproduction could rapidly adjust prices, and it is not as if you can put a few thousand tons of Dysprosium in a Swiss bank vault, as they did with Diamonds.

Maybe the Australian Govt will store it in Canberra....in the carpark under Parliament? ;-)