The company has struck a deal with unlisted West Perth-based explorer Talgomine Minerals to earn up to 90% in the Karloning project in Western Australia’s Wheatbelt region, where there is an existing feldspar and quartz quarry exposing the Karloning pegmatite.
Codrus managing director Shannan Bamforth said the earn-in was a unique opportunity to see the geology and make a rapid assessment of the exploration potential of what could be a system with significant scale.
Bamforth is keen to get drilling in early 2023, following geochemical and geophysical surveys.
Sampling has already demonstrated the presence of high-grade, high-value rare earths in xenotime, and the critical metal niobium.
Recent grab samples returned high-grade results including 2658 parts per million neodymium, 235ppm praseodymium, and 3516ppm terbium, all of which are key magnet inputs.
Encouragingly, samples for dysprosium and niobium exceeded the detection limits of 5740ppm and 5000ppm respectively, and assays are pending.
It is safe to say it is a good start considering the past work has focused on industrial aggregates, the limited drilling did not assay for other metals, and the only past work of note was a small soil sampling program in 2011 that first defined the REE potential.
The poorly constrained pegmatite system is mapped at up to 1.5km-long, and 200m wide, but has never been a focus for exploration, and may be more expansive, so Codrus has pegged additional tenure adjacent to the south-west boundary of the Karloning JV.
The project is also well located, just north of the regional town of Mukinbudin, and 260km north-east of Perth.
Codrus said the exploration should start off being simple and low-cost.
The terms of the deal with the three-year-old Talgomine is for the payment of A$60,000 in cash and shares immediately.
At key spending milestones totalling $400,000, Talgomine’s vendors will be issued one million option exercisable at 20c and 2.5 million options worth 50c each.
Having earned 70%, Codrus can then move up to 90% by carrying the project to commencement of mining.
Codrus has previously focused in gold exploration in WA and the US, and was spun-out of Blackstone Minerals in 2021.
It started the quarter with $3.4 million cash.
