• Red Metal’s Sybella infill drilling returns wide zones of MREOs at the eastern Kary Zone
• Result confirms continuity of the wide zones of higher-grade REO mineralisation
• Further infill drilling being planned to define an indicated resource at Sybella

Special Report: Confidence in the giant rare earths resource at Red Metal’s Sybella project near Mt Isa, Queensland, has grown after infill drilling confirmed the continuity of mineralisation at the eastern Kary Zone.

Assays from the 19 infill holes drilled in November 2024 returned multiple wide zones of magnet rare earth oxides – neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium and terbium – from surface and ending in mineralisation.

Notable intersections include:

• 162m grading 337ppm NdPr and 30ppm DyTb from 18m to EOH (SBRC148)
• 108m at 349ppm NdPr and 38ppm DyTb from 12m to EOH (SBRC143); and
• 72m at 338ppm NdPr and 34ppm DyTb from surface (SBRC152).

The total MREO grades and widths are consistent with results from adjacent traverses 400m to the north and south, adding to Red Metal’s (ASX:RDM) confidence in the Sybella inferred resource of 4.8Bt at 302ppm NdPr and 28ppm DyTb.

Sitting just 20km from Mt Isa, Sybella is a unique, partially weathered and fresh REO-enriched granite that’s more than 12km long and 3km wide.

Early-stage drilling, metallurgical and comminution studies have indicated that a low-cost, low-capital, heap leach processing option may prove feasible with the company having already succeeding in producing a mixed REE concentrate with 48.7% total rare earth oxide with MREOs making up 39.5% of this product.

MREOs are valued for their use in producing permanent rare earth magnets found in electric vehicle traction motors, wind power generators, automotive micromotors, sensors and speakers.

Adamas Intelligence forecasted in its recent Rare Earth Magnet Market Outlook to 2040 annual report that from 2024 through to 2040, global demand for neodymium magnets will increase at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.7%.

It also predicted that total MREO consumption will increase five-fold by 2040 at a CAGR of 5.4% while prices are projected to increase at CAGRs of 4.3-5.2% over the same period.

Raising resource confidence

“Confirming the continuity of the wide zones of higher-grade REO mineralisation at Sybella is an essential step towards realising its potential for bulk tonnage heap leach mining,” RDM managing director Rob Rutherford said.

Chip samples of multiple holes from depths of 0-12m and 12-24m from two separate drill areas have been composited to assess the spatial variability of leach results within the Kary Zone.

“Repeating our positive early-stage metallurgical results with pH optimisation tests on composited samples representative of a larger area is the next key step. Results from this work on the Kary Zone are due in the coming months,” Rutherford added.

RDM is currently planning the drilling of large diameter diamond core holes to collect coarse, non-pulverised, weathered granite samples for column leach test work, along with recommencing infill drilling to define a higher confidence indicated resource at Sybella.

“Proving  we can effectively column leach the Weathered Granite should crystallise this projects value in  the minds of investors and put Sybella on par or ahead of the highly prized Brazilian clay deposits,” Rutherford said.

This article was developed in collaboration with Red Metal, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.