Dreadnought Resources (ASX: DRE) is the latest Australian minerals explorer to uncover significant niobium potential as the market sharpens its focus on the critical metal.

New exploration undertaken by Dreadnought at the Stinger discovery in Western Australia has confirmed oxide and fresh bedrock niobium mineralisation over approximately 1.2 kilometres of strike that remains open in all directions.

The Stinger zone is part of the highly-targeted Gifford Creek carbonatite contained within Dreadnought’s 100%-owned Mangaroon project in WA’s Gascoyne region.

Multiple commodities

Carbonatite intrusions are known globally to host multiple commodities including rare earths, niobium, phosphate, titanium and scandium, often as separate deposits within the same intrusion.

Managing director Dean Tuck says the Gifford Creek carbonatite and the Yin ironstones together form one of the largest alkali-carbonatite complexes in the world.

“The Gifford Creek carbonatite has delivered the thickest and highest-grade intercepts to date,” Mr Tuck said.

“All this in a Tier 1 jurisdiction with ready access to infrastructure including sealed roads, ports, regional workforces and airports.”

Exploration focus

Dreadnought has made the Yin ironstones and the Gifford Creek carbonatite a major focus since their discovery in 2021.

Only around 25% of the Gifford Creek carbonatite has been tested to date and only with wide-spaced first-pass drilling.

Three zones of mineralisation have already been confirmed to date at C3, Stinger and Rocky Road, with significant niobium intercepts drilled.

Niobium program

The latest program at Mangaroon featured nine reverse circulation holes targeting niobium.

Assays from all holes returned significant mineralisation, including the four thickest and highest-grade intercepts to date.

The program was supported by a co-funded drilling grant of up to $180,000 under the Geological Survey of WA’s merit-based Exploration Incentive Scheme (EIS) and a drill-for-equity agreement with Topdrill.

Dreadnought is now preparing to undertake wide-spaced fence-line drilling across the Stinger zone to better constrain the oxide and fresh boundaries, as well as collect material for mineralogical and metallurgical assessment.

Versatile element

Niobium is highly valued for its incredible versatility.

It is used in superconducting magnets such as those used to propel trains powered by magnetic levitation (maglev), hospital magnetic resonance imaging scanners and even the Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Geneva.

It is also gaining popularity for its ability to reduce charging times and fire risks in lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles.