Yes these early results are significant as they indicate that both Sulima West and Coola have the potential to be major RE bearing systems. The most significant number at his stage is the average NdPr value for Sulima West ie 0.86% ! which is actually more than double the Longonjo NdPr average ! Should these grades persist and drilling confirms potential depth, then this deposit may one day become the Jewel in Pensana's reserves portfolio.
Coola appears to be a different style of rare earth mineralisation to LJ and SW, it is said to be Bastnäsite, which is what they have at Bayan Obo and Mountain Pass. Although the TREO grades are not as impressive as Sulima West, the high degree of accessory mineralisation present at Coola suggests a possibility of Heavy RE enrichment, it will be very interesting to see the full break down of the RE assays.
As too mining potential: As a rough rule of thumb, I consider 1/2 gram of gold to the ton to be a sensible economic lower limit ie at todays prices that is around US$30/t. Which currently equates to roughly 200gms (ppm) of NdPr (at a price of $150,000/t). So as these samples from SW are reported to have a minimum grade of 0.1% = 1,000ppm NdPr , it would suggest that 'Yes' should all other constraints allow Sulima West is most certainly a minable proposition.
Cautionary note: These are very early days in the development of Sulima West and Coola; These preliminary works were carried out while Covid was raging and therefore the level of geological supervision 'may' not have been as strict as could be desired. It is an intriguing fact that "non-supervised" field staff often tend to bias a sampling program.
PM8 Price at posting:
$1.66 Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
