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Rare Earth Properties - ArgentinaHighlights
- Staked over 100,000 hectares in Jujuy and Salta Provinces, NW Argentina.
- The properties are known to be prospective for a variety of light and heavy rare earths elements, including yttrium.
- Geology is dominated by Ordovician sediments, Tertiary intrusives and Carbonatites with little detailed exploration ever being done.
- Rare earth mineralisation observed to date in Jujuy, is hosted in stockwork veins with the host structures up to 10 metres wide and over 6km in strike length.
- Exploration to begin in March 2010
Overview |
Jujuy Properties |
Jujuy Properties
The rare earths licenses, covering over 300 square kilometers, include the Susques Property which covers more than 20,000 hectares in southern Jujuy Province, NW Argentina. Susques is known to be prospective for a variety of rare earths elements, including yttrium, and thorium has been historically mined on a small scale. The local geology is dominated by Ordovician sediments and Tertiary intrusives and Carbonatites with little detailed exploration ever being done. Rare earth mineralisation observed to date is hosted in stockwork veins with the host structures up to 10 meters wide.
The properties were identified as part of the Company's continuous target generation strategy where new opportunities are constantly being reviewed to provide ongoing feedstock for our expansion and growth. The properties were selected based on extensive local knowledge and deep experience in the NW Provinces, in particular through our local country manager who has mined and prospected in this region for almost three decades. His expert knowledge has guided our efforts to secure strategically significant and geologically prospective properties, with rare earths providing an important opportunity.
A short reconnaissance program by AHC geologists in December 2009 targeted Susques where mapping and rock chip sampling identified a number of parallel mineralised veins that have been traced for over 6 km in total strike length. The initial results from this sampling included sample 26954 which returned elevated rare earth elements, including Yttrium.
| Sample Number |
Ce ppm |
Dy ppm |
Er ppm |
Eu ppm |
Ga ppm |
| 26954 |
2990 |
106 |
18.65 |
182 |
17.2 |
| Gd ppm |
La ppm |
Nd ppm |
Pr ppm |
Rb ppm |
| 474 |
1360 |
2550 |
472 |
13.4 |
| Sm ppm |
Sr ppm |
Th ppm |
Y ppm |
Zn ppm |
| 825 |
933 |
>1000 |
192.5 |
90 |
Additional sampling on this property has shown that elevated levels of some rare earth metals are present on similar vein structures on other parts of the property.
These results are important first indicators of potential mineralisation considering the broader geological environment in which they lie. The ratio of heavy to light rare earths is also encouraging. More detailed work is now planned to commence in the coming months to ascertain the extent and economic potential of mineralisation.
The following is an extract from a local geology report:
The small bodies and dykes of La Poma trondhjemite belt (La Poma Department, Salta) contain tantalum-niobium ( within the Cachi formation).The local geology is dominated by metasedimentary rocks of the Puncoviscana Formation. The trondhjemite bodies are barren in ore-forming elements against the metasedimentary rocks, with higher contents of Tantalum (Ta), Niobium (Nb), Lithium (Li), and Beryllium (Be). The mineralization is suggested to have formed by melting in the aureole contact on the metasediments. The Trondhjemitic magma raised the temperature of the country rocks, as observed in a thermal aureole around the plutons, changing the original rocks to greenshists (granulite facies).When the rocks were partially melted, pegmatite lenses containing higher values of tantalium and niobium concentrated over ten times higher in the country rocks than in the trondhjemites.The pegmatite bodies have originated by partial melting of the metasedimentary rocks. Due to the process of melting, high contents of the lithophile elements sud as Ta,Nb,U, Th, W, Li and Be have been moved from metasediments to the melted zones. The trondhje,mite magma origin should be related to an active subduction zone during the evolution of the Famatinian arc (480-460 Ma). The Magmatic arc testifies a probable change in the arc configuration leading to melt the basic lower crust or the subducted young oceanic crust (< 25 Ma) or a change in the subduction angle resulting in the partial melting of the already accreted lower crust.
Cachi Rare Earth PropertyHighlights
- Property was staked based on large pegmatite intrusions extending for 40km in strike length.
- Property covers over 55 000 hectares in Salta Province NW Argentina
- Offers excellent opportunity for discovery based on very favourable geology and lack of previous exploration.
- Good access to local town of Cachi and only 160km west of Salta city, the capital of Salta Province.
- Geology is prospective for pegmatite related rare earth mineralization based on extensive granitoid intrusions, extending for over 40km in strike, with large (up to 300m wide) pegmatite dykes intruding neo-proterozoic gneiss. Many pegmatites have been economically valuable as sources of clays and feldspars, as well as bismuth, lithium, molybdenum, rare-earths, tantalum-niobium, thorium, tin, tungsten, and uranium minerals.
- Reconnaissance work has been completed with stream sediment sampling and mapping completed, identifying three targets based on surface alteration halos.
- Assays are pending from the 129 stream sediment samples collected.
- Detailed mineralogical studies will be completed on the granitoids and permatites samples collected providing information on their rare earth prospectivity.
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