I think we should consider two options; 1) a xenotime deposit hosted in the already known metasediments in the area 2) a samarskite* deposit formed in granitoids * - or some other weird REE phosphosilicate like aeschinite
Also, the holes are 100m apart, drilled vertically. This is a good orientation if you are targeting a flat-lying clay horizon which is uniform. If you are targeting a steeply or vertically dipping sedimentary package with, for example, beds of heavy minerals or hydrothermal xenotime hosted (Dazzler/Iceman style) in veins along bedding planes and unconformities, this drilling orientation is...terrible, and would see you sample 50mm of stratigraphic thickness.
As Paul7890 points out in his post in the other thread, there is a cryptic variability to Tm/TREO, Y/TREO and even Sm/TREO and LREE/HREE ratios east to west. On face value this fits a more hydrothermal model of fractionation or mineralogical zonation from a HREE enriched xenotime assemblage westward, to a more monazite(?)-ish signature eastwards. Xenotime is lower temperature than other REE phosphates, and this fits, as it is farther away from the hypothesised 'carbonatite' intrusion to the ENE of this area.
This is also one of the rare REE plays where, at 9-12% NdPr, there won't be any talk of magnets and EV's, but of laser diodes and smart missiles. I also note that NdPr remains quite similar across the reported holes, so that's a thing.
As for whether the Tm and Sm anomalies are real...I would think this is why the initial delay in releasing the results - it's so unusual one would have queried ALS, or ALS may have flagged it with the company and done some cross checks in the mass spectrometer to ensure there wasn't an isomer interference on Tm that was artificially over-reporting it. Another option might be a Rb dimer (Rb's atomic mass of 84 is half of Tm's 168 atomic mass) but I would think that the Rb would have to be so far off the charts you'd be wading in Cs and Li given the rarity of a Rb-Rb dimer sufficient to cause a 80 or 400ppm reading on Tm.
So...where to next (aside from SEM work to identify the mineralogy)?
West to HREE heaven? Or infill angle holes to stitch together the anomalies better and avoid vertical drilling into vertical stratigraphy issues? East into NdPr territory and LREE's? Cross-check and ANSTO know-how?
SHouldn't be hard to pin down an interested expert.
FInally....I wish they would report the elements along atomic weight, not left to right alphabetically. I'm with Collerson on this one!
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