17 Nov 2014 13:30
Regency Mines Plc
Licence Grant - Motzfeldt Multi-element Project, Greenland
Exploration Programme Completed - Red Sea Potash Prospect, Sudan
17th November 2014
Highlights
· Licence 2014/01 extended over multi-element Motzfeldt Project, Greenland to include JORC Inferred Mineral Resource of 340Mt @ 120ppm Ta2O5, 4,600ppm ZrO2, and 1,850ppm Nb2O5
· Completion of field programme on Red Sea (Block RS9) Potash Prospect in Sudan
Motzfeldt Multi-element (Nb, Ta, REE) Project, Greenland
Regency Mines Plc ("Regency" or "the Company"), the natural resources exploration company with interests in oil in the United Kingdom and United States, and nickel and other minerals in Australia, Papua New Guinea and Sudan, announces that it will now hold 100% of the Motzfeldt multi-element (niobium (Nb), tantalum (Ta), rare earth elements (REE)) Project following approval for the extension of its licence 2014/01 in southern Greenland.
Licence 2014/01 now covers 555km2 of the Gardar Province in southern-most Greenland, host to three large REE deposits, including the important Motzfeldt Centre, a part of the Igaliko Nepheline Syenite Complex. The licence area includes a multi-element prospect believed by GEUS (Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland) to be one of the world's largest Ta deposits with a prospectivity identified by GEUS of 600 million tonnes grading 120 ppm Ta (high grade zones up to 426 ppm Ta) and 130 million tonnes grading 0.4-1.0% Nb2O5. The prospect has known and significant rare earth potential, requiring exploration.
The Motzfeldt Project is located 50km north-east of Greenland Minerals and Energy Limited's Kvanefjeld Project, considered to be one the world's largest rare earth resources with extensive additional resources of uranium and zinc.
License 2014/01 was initially granted earlier in 2014 as the Qooqqup Timaa license in ground adjacent to that held by Ram Resources Ltd (ASX:RAM)("Ram")'s majority owned joint venture company Greenland Resources Limited ("GRL") and considered by the Company's advisors to be prospective for potentially commercial REEs. GRL which had not completed any significant ground work on the project decided to drop its Greenland licenses in the summer, in order for Ram to concentrate on its exploration in the Fraser Range of Western Australia. When the Company later discovered this it applied for an extension to License 2014/01 covering most of this dropped ground.
The Motzfeldt area was first explored in the 1980s by GEUS who carried out regional chip sampling and a detailed helicopter-borne radiometric survey, identifying five radiometric anomalies over a 7km strike length, shown to be associated with tantalum-rich pyrochlore mineralisation hosted by hydrothermally altered syenite. Cabot Corporation carried out further work in 2001, including a 9 hole, 1,621m drill programme intercepting up to 18 metres @ 630 ppm Ta2O5 and 7,800 ppm Nb2O5.
On 27 April 2012 Ram made an ASX announcement of a maiden JORC Inferred Mineral Resource in one part of what is now Regency's Motzfeldt Project, of 340Mt @ 120ppm Ta2O5,4,600ppm ZrO2, and 1,850ppm Nb2O5 at a cut off operating cost of $60/t. Additional details are summarised in the table below:
Commodity | Ta2O5 | Nb2O5 | ZrO2 | TREO | U | Th |
Grade (ppm) | 120 | 1,850 | 4,600 | 2,600 | 70 | 120 |
Product (t) | 40,800 | 629,000 | 1,564,000 | 884,000 | 23,800 | 40,800 |
Mineral resources are not mineral reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability. All figures are rounded to reflect the relative accuracy of the estimate and any resultant apparent errors are not considered to be material (SRK Consulting (UK) Ltd).
A copy of the Ram announcement of an Inferred Mineral Resource may be found at http://www.asx.com.au/asxpdf/20120427/pdf/425vdqmzhqgxp0.pdf
Figure 1 Map showing the original and extended 2014/01 licence areas http://www.regency-mines.com/files/6014/1579/9829/Motzfeldt_Project_Map.pdf
Red Sea (Block RS9) Potash Project, Sudan
Regency geologists recently returned to London after leading a two week exploration programme on the Red Sea potash prospect in north-east Sudan, supported by geologists from the Sudanese Ministry of Minerals. During the programme, the team excavated 30 pits and 7 trenches, acquired 809 ground radiometric measurements and collected 13 samples which have undergone portable x-ray fluorescence (XRF) and radiometric analysis.
The data collected during the programme is now undergoing further analysis and interpretation to build a more detailed understanding of the 3D geometry of the potash prospective sedimentary basin with the intention of generating potassium anomalies for future drill testing. Further updates will be provided in due course.
Andrew Bell, the Company's Chairman, commented:
"At the bottom of the market opportunities sometimes arise to pick up at no cost assets of the importance of the Motzfeldt Project, with its declared Mineral Resource and known exploration potential. This one arose, and with our group's in-house alkaline rock and Greenland exploration experience, and our knowledge of the Motzfeldt area, we took the opportunity. The potential of this area is much greater as a result of the lifting in 2014 of the ban on exploration and exploitation where radioactive elements are at greater than background levels.
Demand for rare-earth minerals continues to increase, and recognition of their strategic significance is leading powerful actors to enter this market. With our partners, we look forward to taking this project forward.
As with the assets now in Ram at the Fraser Range, and as with the Munglinup graphite assets, we are willing either to be patient in holding a project, or willing to seize opportunities in acquiring and disposing of the same project, so long as the potential for scale exists.
A low-cost mapping and geophysical exploration programme in Sudan has been concluded, and the analysis of the results will enable us to plan our next steps."
The information in this report that relates to geology is based on information reviewed by Mr Gary Hurst MSci, who is a Fellow of The Geological Society of London and Member of The Society of Economic Geologists. Mr Hurst is an employee of Regency Mines plc.
For further information, please contact:
Andrew Bell 0207 747 9960 or 0776 647 4849 Chairman Regency Mines Plc
Roland Cornish/Rosalind Hill Abrahams0207 628 3396 NOMAD Beaumont Cornish Limited
Jason Robertson0129 351 7744 Broker Dowgate Capital Stockbrokers Ltd.
Rupert Trefgarne0203 128 8817 Media Relations MHP Communications