- Ionic Rare Earths (IXR) receives approval for its Makuutu rare earths retention licence for another two years
- The application covers the Makuutu Western Zone in Uganda and nearby prospective exploration areas, where applications were submitted ahead of drilling
- Once the new exploration approvals have been granted, the company intends to conduct its phase five drilling program at Makuutu
- The program will move the resource to an indicated resource classification at Makuutu
- Shares in Ionic are up 5.26 per cent, trading at four cents as of 11:30 am AEDT
Ionic Rare Earths (IXR) has received approval for its retention licence (RL) renewal at its Makuutu rare earths project in Uganda for another two years.
The licence covers the Makuutu Western Zone (MWZ), and contains an inferred resource of 39 million tonnes at 470 parts per million (ppm) total rare earth oxide (TREO).
The RL application is immediately west of the RL 1693, which is currently under mining licence application (MLA) and will provide the basis for additional capacity and organic growth at Makuutu ,once initial mining and processing activity commences.
Additionally, the renewed RL is immediately south of the prospective exploration target at EL00257, where applications have been submitted for drilling to commence this year to further define the scale of potential ionic clay mineralisation to the west of the MLA area.
Once these new exploration approvals have been granted, Ionic intends to initiate a phase five drill program at Makuutu to move the resource to an indicated resource classification.
“The rapid approval of the renewal of RL 00007, which occurred within two weeks of finalising the submission documentation, is another positive reflection of the strong support IonicRE and the project has within Uganda,” Managing Director Tim Harrison.
“As the company, via RRM, finalises the MLA at Makuutu for RL 1693, we remain confident that Makuutu will continue to grow and support a much larger project.”
Makuutu is being developed by Rwenzori Rare Metals (RRM), a Ugandan private company
which wholly owns the Makuutu project.
IonicRE is a 51 per cent owner of RRM and moving to 60 per cent, with a first right over the remaining 40 per cent.
Shares in Ionic were up 5.26 per cent, trading at four cents as of 11:30 am AEDT.