VIRIDIS MINING AND METALS (ASX:VMM)One of 2023’s best performing...

VIRIDIS MINING AND METALS (ASX:VMM)

One of 2023’s best performing stocks has started the new year at pace, announcing a “breakthrough discovery” at its Colossus ionic clay rare earths project in Brazil.

First drill results from Capão da Onça are the highest grades reported at Colossus to date, and include 7m @ 8,277ppm, ending in mineralisation, from 1m depth.

All up, this batch of results “re-affirms that Colossus is a world-class project”, chair Agha Shahzad Pervez says.

“… results continue to illustrate the sheer scale and quality of Colossus, which lays the foundation for the project to potentially rank amongst the highest grade and largest REE Ionic Adsorption Clay (IAC) projects globally.”

Acquired in August last year, Colossus directly adjoins Meteoric Resources’ (ASX:MEI) world-class Caldeira ionic adsorption clay project (409Mt @2,626ppm TREO), a favourite with analysts and punters alike.

A good chunk of the mineralisation at Caldeira is truly ionic, meaning REEs can be recovered easily (and hopefully cheaply) via single step leaching at room temperatures.

Not all clay rare earths projects can say the same.

VMM says it shares the same dirt with MEI. Drill continues, while all-important metallurgical sampling has also commenced.