It is working with consultancy Resource Potentials, which is credited with locating the Luni geophysics anomaly, now an emerging world-class niobium discovery owned by WA1 Resources.
RareX has struck a A$237,000 cash and scrip deal with two private vendors, Beau Resources and Sustainable Minerals, for six licences covering 966sq.km close to the Mulga Rock uranium deposit and the world-class Tropicana gold mine.
The Khaleesi project has been previously explored for gold, and while not all the holes were assayed for niobium, those that were returned elevated results, with niobium levels 30 times above the background and up to 1000 parts per million.
RareX said its interest had been piqued by the proximity of the Ponton Dyke, which has returned some of Australia’s best rare earth intersections, and the Cundeelee carbonatite, described in the ‘90s as the world’s largest effectively untested carbonatite.
Both are within the Queen Victoria Spring nature reserve and can’t be developed but attest to the potential of the area, RareX CEO James Durrant said.
Khaleesi sits at the transition between the Yilgarn Craton and the Albany-Fraser Belt and is close to the company’s existing Red Dragon REE project.
RareX will fund work at Khaleesi from the proceeds of a $1.5 million placement, largely supported by the directors and existing shareholders, that was priced at 1.4c.
Durrant said there was some 10,000m of drilling completed and other geological data from large-company programs completed by AngloGold Ashanti, Fortescue, and IGO that provided a jumping-off point to examine the potential for a district-scale discovery.
The initial focus will be the Luchini and Niobe prospects.
AngloGold drilled the former during its time in the area, while the latter is a 4km-long vegetation and thorium radiometric anomaly.
Drilling is planned in FY25.
There is little or no cover, so Durrant said there was the possibility of rapid resource definition.
The leases also contain the Rising Dragon gabbro, which contains a disseminated copper-nickel sulphide discovery.
Following the placement, RareX expects to have $4.7 million in cash and investments to fund its work.
It recently acquired the Goldray carbonatite project in Canada and is looking at opportunities in Saudi Arabia while it waits for REE markets to improve to a point where it can advance its flagship Cummins Range REE-phosphate project, which is the largest undeveloped rare earths project in Australia.
