Mount Ridley hits high-grade scandium 8km outside WA resource

Mount Ridley Mines’ second phase of historical drill pulps re-assaying has uncovered a string of high-grade scandium intercepts up to eight kilometres outside the boundaries of the already massive resource at its Grass Patch project near Esperance in Western Australia.

The work has confirmed extensive, shallow mineralisation, with several intercepts nailing grades well above the existing resource average and ending in mineralisation. The results point to a significant opportunity to expand what the company believes is already the biggest JORC-compliant scandium resource in the world.

The latest re-assay results include a standout 40-metre intercept grading 102.09 parts per million (ppm) scandium oxide from just 18m depth downhole. Another hole returned 22m at 119.41ppm scandium oxide from a shallow depth of 12m. Both holes ended in mineralisation, suggesting the system could continue at depth.

A third broad, near-surface result included 16m at 106.83ppm scandium oxide from 32m, while a fourth hole reported 13m going 124.6ppm scandium oxide from 16m. Both those holes also ended in mineralisation.

Notably, the grades from the third and fourth samples are appreciably higher than the existing average resource grades for Grass Patch’s Block 1 and Block 2, which sit at 77.3ppm and 74.7ppm scandium oxide, respectively. The company says the new results have defined scandium mineralisation extending up to 3km north, 5km south, and between 4km and 5km to the west and northwest of the current resource areas, with further extensions to the east.

The scale of our critical mineral resource at Grass Patch continues to impress. Our phased re-assay program to build our resource base, particularly when it comes to scandium, is proving to be a very sensible strategy...Having the largest reported JORC compliant scandium resource in the world helps put us on the radar of off-takers, government departments, strategic capital and defence primes, just to name a few.

Grass Patch currently hosts a colossal inferred resource of 946 million tonnes grading 50.1ppm scandium for 47,357 tonnes of contained scandium metal. The project also contains significant inferred resources of 838.7 million tonnes of gallium running at 29.3ppm alongside multiple blocks of rare earths.

Management believes the coincidence of scandium with the existing rare earths and gallium envelopes points to a large-scale, district-wide critical minerals system, of which the current resource captures only a relatively modest part.

With the project’s growing scale becoming increasingly apparent and its unique mix of critical minerals still being fully defined, the company is running hard to fine-tune its wholly-owned “Selectro” leach process, which it believes could provide a pathway to produce scandium, heavy rare earths and gallium through a single processing circuit.

The timing could be opportune, with both scandium and its associated critical minerals, gallium and rare earths becoming increasingly vital for defence, aerospace and green energy technologies. Supply for many of these commodities is constrained, prompting the Australian government to establish a national strategic reserve of key minerals such as gallium and rare earths for domestic use.

The supply chain for scandium, in particular, is incredibly fragile. Historically, China and Russia have controlled between 90 and 100 per cent of global scandium, producing it as a low-concentration by-product of other commodities including titanium, nickel and uranium.

Analysts at global market research and consulting firm Mordor Intelligence forecast the scandium market to cross the US$1 billion (A$1.4B) mark this year, growing thereafter at a rapid annual rate. Because of Western desperation to decouple from Chinese supplies, a two-tier pricing market has developed. High-purity scandium metal and specific aerospace master alloys command premium pricing outside of China, routinely trading between US$3000 and US$4000 (A$4220 - A$5630) per kilogram of metallic scandium.

With its latest results demonstrating a mineralised footprint significantly bigger than previously thought, Mount Ridley is now incorporating the data into its geological model ahead of a planned resource upgrade. A third phase of re-assays comprising a further 2800 pulps is already at the laboratory, with results expected to feed into continued resource modelling.

As the world scrambles to secure supply chains for the minerals that will underpin the next generation of technology, Mount Ridley appears to be deftly assembling the pieces of a critical minerals jigsaw - one of genuine global scale.

With mineralisation open in all directions and more assays in the pipeline, the market will likely be keen to see just how much bigger this mixed rare metals story can get.

Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@wanews.com.au