- Assay results from ten drill holes, all with rare-earth
mineralization,
- Drill-hole RES 09-17 - 171 ft aggregate true thickness @ 5.57% REO,
- Including 36.5 ft @ 10.88% REO,
- Drill-hole RES 09-18 - 69.8 ft aggregate true thickness @
5.97% REO,
- Including 27.3 ft @ 11.56% REO.
- One of the best holes (RES 09-18) located at southeastern margin of
drilling, indicating additional potential mineralization further to
the southeast.
TSX-V: RES
VANCOUVER, Feb. 8 /CNW/ - Rare Element Resources Ltd. (TSX-V:RES) is pleased to report rare-earth-element (REE) assay results for an additional ten holes from the 2009 core drilling program, completed on the Company's 100% owned Bear Lodge property in Wyoming. All ten holes were drilled into the Bull Hill Southwest target, where an NI 43-101-compliant inferred mineral resource was estimated in the spring of 2009 (see news release dated March 23, 2009). Assay results have been received for fifteen of the twenty drill holes completed during the fall 2009 program. The drill holes reported in this news release tested for an expansion of the resource along strike to the southeast, and up-dip from previous drill holes. Three of the holes were drilled from lower on the hillside to fill gaps between older holes. These results will provide the Company with additional data to update its NI 43-101 independent resource report, scheduled for completion in the spring of 2010.
Highlights of the drill program include relatively thick intercepts of (greater than)1% REO mineralization in all ten drill holes, thick zones of (greater than)2% REO in five holes, and higher grades in the two drill holes noted above.
Drilling Results
The host for all rare-earth mineralization in the Bear Lodge Mountains is a large alkaline-igneous complex that forms the core of the mountain range. Rare-earth mineralization encountered in the ten drill holes is primarily contained within the near-surface, oxidized equivalents (FMR) of carbonatite dikes that intrude the Bull Hill diatreme, a body of heterolithic intrusive breccia, along the southwest flank of the hill. FMR is the term used for the oxidized carbonatite dikes and represents the major components in the oxidized dikes--FeOx (iron oxides), MnOx (manganese oxides), and REE minerals.
The ten holes were all drilled on bearings of N 45 degrees E from a series of sites on the Bull Hill Southwest target. Six drill sites were placed two hundred feet apart in a northwest-southeast direction, and two angle holes at each site were drilled into Bull Hill along sections oriented N 45 degrees E. Drill hole RES 09-18 is located at the southeastern limit of the 2009 drilling area, and it was offset from the favorable results previously reported from drill holes RES 09-1 and 09-2 (see news release dated December 16, 2009). All 15 drill holes completed in the Bull Hill Southwest target now have assay values returned. The assay results remaining to be received are those from 2009 holes drilled in or near the Bull Hill Northwest target.
Table 1. Summary of Assays from the REE-mineralized Sections of the Drill Holes
Drill-hole RES 09-9
(bearing N 45 degrees E, inclination -70 degrees, total depth 786 feet,
Bull Hill Southwest target)
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Estimated
True
Interval Intercept Thickness Mineralized Lithology Total % REO
-------- --------- --------- --------------------- -----------
(feet) (feet) (feet)
130 - 198 68 60.6 FMR dike 2.43% REO
337 - 344 7 5.3 FMR dike 4.70% REO
701 - 719 18 8.2 Carbonatite dike 3.08% REO
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Drill-hole RES 09-10
(bearing N 45 degrees E, inclination -45 degrees, total depth 723.5 ft,
Bull Hill Southwest target)
84 - 100 16 12.2 FMR dike 3.32% REO
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Drill-hole RES 09-12
(bearing N 45 degrees E, inclination -70 degrees, total depth 546 ft,
Bull Hill Southwest target)
11 - 111 100 92.4 FMR dike 2.04% REO
518 - 529 11 8.4 FMR dike 2.64% REO
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Drill-hole RES 09-13
(bearing N 45 degrees E, inclination -45 degrees, total depth 726 ft,
Bull Hill Southwest target)
75 - 84 9 7.7 FMR dike 2.18% REO
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Drill-hole RES 09-14
(bearing N 45 degrees E, inclination -70 degrees, total depth 754.5 ft,
Bull Hill Southwest target)
123 - 200 77 68.6 FMR dike 2.97% REO
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Drill hole RES09-15
(bearing N 45 degrees, inclination -70 degrees, total depth 517 ft,
Bull Hill Southwest target)
120-130.5' 10.5 4.8 FMR dike 5.72%REO
370-409' 39 22.9 FMR dike 2.43%REO
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Drill hole RES09-16
(bearing N 45 degrees E, inclination -45 degrees, total depth 514 ft,
Bull Hill Southwest target)
44 - 67' 23 23 FMR stockwork 2.11%REO
83 - 89' 6 6 FMR dike 2.17%REO
135 - 145' 10 10 FMR stockwork 2.51%REO
193 - 211' 18 17.1 FMR dike 2.03%REO
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Drill-hole RES 09-17
(bearing N 45 degrees E, inclination -75 degrees, total depth 865 ft,
Bull Hill Southwest target)
410 - 590 180 136.9 FMR/carbonatite dikes 6.11% REO
(including 40 36.5 FMR dike 10.88% REO)
690 - 760 80 31.8 Carbonatite dikes 3.39% REO
820 - 830 10 2.3 Carbonatite dike 3.50% REO
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Drill-hole RES 09-18
(bearing N 45 degrees E, inclination -70 degrees, total depth 700 ft,
Bull Hill Southwest target)
11 - 80 79 58.8 FMR dikes 5.89% REO
(including 32 27.3 FMR dike 11.56% REO)
342.5 - 352.5 10 4.5 FMR dike 2.99% REO
590 - 611 21 6.5 FMR dike 8.73% REO
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Drill-hole RES 09-20
(bearing N 45 degrees E, inclination -45 degrees, total depth 434 ft,
Bull Hill Southwest target)
123.5 - 151 27.5 19.4 FMR dike 3.22% REO
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Assaying of the rare-earth elements was conducted by Activation Laboratories (ActLabs) in their Ancaster, Ontario assay facility. The samples were prepared and subjected to lithium metaborate fusion, followed by ICP analysis and a mass spectroscopy finish. ActLabs is recognized as an internationally respected analytical laboratory with extensive experience in rare-earth-element analysis.
REE assay values are reported by convention as the combined oxide equivalents (REO) of the fifteen elements in the lanthanide series + yttrium. The oxide equivalents are approximately 15.6% higher than the combined metal assay values. The Bear Lodge project contains predominantly the "light" REE (lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium, neodymium, and samarium), but also small quantities of the "heavy" REE, including europium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, and ytterbium, as shown in Table 2 below.
Rare Element Resources Ltd (TSX-V:RES) is a publicly traded mineral resource company focused on exploration and development of rare-earth elements and gold on the Bear Lodge property. Gold exploration in the Bear Lodge Mountains has been conducted for several decades with several companies significantly contributing to the database and understanding. Newmont's recent exploration efforts are the most comprehensive and extensive of these programs. Newmont has the right to earn a 65% working interest in Rare Element Resources' property, excluding any rights to the rare-earth elements but including rights to gold and other metals, by performing US$5 million in property work expenditures over a five-year period. Newmont also has the right to earn an additional 15% working interest by completing a positive project feasibility study.
On behalf of the Board,
Donald E Ranta, PhD, PGeo,
President & CEO
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Diagrammatic plan map of drill holes in the Bull Hill Target area -
Bear Lodge project
To see map, please see URL below:
http://files.newswire.ca/675/Bear_Lodge_project.pdf
Table 2. Typical REE Distribution in the Bear Lodge Deposit
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Rare-Earth Element Oxide Sample * Unoxidized Sample *
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Lanthanum 29.3% 32.5%
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Cerium 45.0% 46.4%
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Praseodymium 4.8% 4.3%
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Neodymium 16.8% 13.7%
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Samarium 2.0% 1.4%
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Europium 0.4% 0.3%
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Gadolinium 0.8% 0.6%
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Terbium 0.1% 0.0%
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Dysprosium 0.2% 0.2%
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Ytterbium 0.5% 0.5%
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Total 99.9% 99.9%
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*From two composite metallurgical samples
Donald E. Ranta, PhD, PGeo, serves the Board of Directors of the Company as an internal, technically Qualified Person. Technical information in this news release has been reviewed by Dr. Ranta and has been prepared in accordance with Canadian regulatory requirements that are set out in National Instrument 43-101. This news release was prepared by Company management, which takes full responsibility for content. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.