en.Wedoany.com Reported - Mount Ridley Mines has further expanded the scope of scandium mineralization at the Block 2 area of its Grass Patch project in Western Australia, following the reanalysis of historical drill core samples. These broad, near-surface intercepts returned scandium grades significantly higher than the Block 2 resource average of 86.9 ppm Sc2O3, providing greater confidence in the continuity and scale of the scandium system across the project.
Highlighted results include: 19 meters at 127.68 ppm Sc2O3 from 20 meters, 24 meters at 114.54 ppm from 24 meters, 12 meters at 110.05 ppm from 22 meters, and 19 meters at 114.25 ppm from 33 meters. Multiple drill holes ended in mineralization.
The distribution of these high-grade intersections supports the company's view that the Grass Patch Complex hosts a larger scandium system than currently described by the mineral resource estimate. The new results build on the Block 1 reanalysis reported in June, which included 22 meters at 134.09 ppm Sc2O3 from 33 meters, 20 meters at 119.02 ppm from 18 meters, and 13 meters at 117.34 ppm from 13 meters.
Mount Ridley Mines Managing Director Allister Caird stated that combined with the Block 1 results, they now have a comprehensive understanding of the scandium system at Grass Patch. These results come entirely from reanalysis of historical drill core rather than new drilling, representing a low-cost approach to substantially expand the resource of what is already one of the largest reported scandium discoveries globally. He also noted that coupled with the co-existing rare earth and gallium resources in Block 2, this further strengthens Grass Patch as a truly scaled multi-commodity critical minerals project, with Phase 2 reanalysis work already underway.
Grass Patch is located approximately 25 kilometers north of the deep-water port of Esperance and hosts heavy rare earth, scandium, and gallium resources delineated by approximately 70,000 meters of historical drilling. Block 1 and Block 2 are part of the Grass Patch Complex, which the company believes is the primary source of heavy rare earth enrichment across the project area. Block 2 hosts rare earth resources of 87.18 million tonnes at 947 ppm total rare earth oxides, gallium resources of 372.3 million tonnes at 40.4 ppm Ga2O3, and scandium resources totaling 212.7 million tonnes at 86.9 ppm Sc2O3. Management believes the close spatial relationship between scandium, gallium, and rare earth mineralization further enhances the strategic value of Grass Patch as a globally significant multi-commodity critical minerals project.
Mount Ridley has completed the Phase 1 reanalysis program for Block 1 and Block 2, with results to be incorporated into an updated mineral resource estimate. An additional 2,000 historical pulp samples will be collected this week as part of the next phase of reanalysis. The Phase 2 program aims to expand the resource inventory for Block 1 and Block 2 by analyzing the remaining 14,000 unanalyzed historical pulp samples.
