Heavy Rare Earths out to turn SA uranium projects into next big prize

News.com.au

a day ago

HRE doubles down on uranium with South Australian trio
Exploration manager Joseph Ogierman highlights the quality of the projects as a key attraction
The company believes it is well positioned to draw serious interest from companies such as Heathgate and Boss Energy if a discovery is made
Since pivoting towards uranium last year with the acquisition of three uranium projects in South Australia near established mining operators, Heavy Rare Earths has been positioning for potential acquisition interest if a major find emerges.
Until that point, the company was focused on its Cowalinya rare earths project near Esperance, WA, a deposit comparable in style to the massive ion-adsorption clay types found in southern China and Myanmar, where most of the world's heavy rare earths are sourced.
Despite strong progress at the project, which contains an inferred resource of 159Mt at 870ppm total rare earth oxides (TREO) and an exploration target ranging from 280 to 1390Mt at 330-1330ppm TREO, the board was finding it increasingly difficult to secure sufficient funding to move forward with the next phase of exploration and development.
With an eye on the long-term value of critical minerals, Heavy Rare Earths (ASX:HRE) viewed the opportunity to acquire three assets from Havilah Resources (ASX:HAV) – in one of the world's premier uranium producing jurisdictions – as highly compelling.
HRE exploration manager Joseph Ogierman told Stockhead a major selling point was the opportunity to explore quality projects, in a region with significant resource endowment and host to several active low-cost, long-life uranium operations.
SA's uranium heritage powers next exploration phase
Australia leads globally in uranium reserves and ranks fourth in production, with South Australia standing out as the core of the nation's uranium sector, housing 80% of its economic demonstrated resources and close to a quarter of the world's uranium supply.
'South Australia's rich history in uranium mining not only highlights its potential for future exploration but also underscores the strategic advantages it offers to companies like HRE,' Ogierman said.
All three projects – Radium Hill, Lake Namba-Billeroo and Prospect Hill – sit in prospective geological settings within the Proterozoic Curnamona Province in northern South Australia.
Proterozoic basement provinces in the state have been the focus of major milestones in Australia's uranium industry.
Among the milestones are the initial uranium production at Radium Hill –the nation's first major uranium-only operation in the 1950s – and the subsequent development of Olympic Dam, the world's largest uranium deposit.
It is also the location of two of Australia's uranium producing mines including Beverly/Four Mile, owned and operated by Heathgate Resources, and Boss Energy (ASX:BOE)'s Honeymoon project, which recently met its FY25 production target having produced 328,102 pounds of yellowcake in the June quarter.
'Lake Namba-Billeroo and Prospect Hill are sediment-hosted uranium targets within known paleochannels and about 30km of the Billeroo palaeochannel – only 13km downstream from Boss Energy's Gould's Dam uranium resource – which has not been tested by a single drill hole,' Ogierman added.
HRE has rights to about 50km of strike length of the paleochannel, both upstream and downstream of Gould's Dam.
Brownfield and greenfield opportunities
The pipeline of projects spans brownfields at Radium Hill and greenfields at Lake Namba-Billeroo and Prospect Hill, with the latter featuring a geological analogue to the Beverley Group and in particular Four Mile-style sedimentary hosted uranium deposits with no historical drill testing.
Over at Radium Hill, Ogierman believes there is considerable potential to discover high-grade extensions along the main lode system northeast of the Radium Hill Mine, which produced 2.6Mlbs of U308 at 1200ppm during 1954-1961.
'Radium Hill has the additional bonus of significant upside as a greenfield target for scandium and rare earths,' he said.
'Although these elements were identified in the early 1900s, they were largely ignored during uranium mining in the 1950s.
'There hasn't been any systematic sampling for either scandium or rare earths since the identification of both these minerals.'
Recent reconnaissance sampling by HRE at the site returned high-grade values for scandium and rare earths in March up to 16,273ppm US08, 1,081ppm Sc203 and 36,371ppm TREO, potentially expanding the search profile for the project.
Plans for remainder of the year
While there is no clear prospect priority at this early stage of development, due to the paucity of drilling data along HRE's portion of the Billeroo palaeochannel and lack of any drilling data at Prospect Hill, Ogierman said the company aimed to gain a better understanding of the prospectivity of potential host sequences.
'At Radium Hill the focus is on understanding possible structural controls of mineralisation at the historical Radium Hill Mine and whether these controls can be identified along strike,' he said.
'Coincidently, it is important to understand the distribution of scandium and rare earths and their relationship with uranium mineralisation.
'We have undertaken first-pass geophysical surveys since acquiring the projects including passive seismic surveys at Billeroo and Prospect Hill and an airborne geophysical (magnetic and radiometric) survey at Radium Hill,' he added.
'Data for each project has been processed and is currently being integrated with all available geological and open file geophysical information to construct mineral system models.
'The immediate goal is for this process to deliver a pipeline of targets at Billeroo, Prospect Hill and Radium Hill in the next couple of months which will be ranked for drill testing in the second half of this year.'
In preparation, HRE has begun engaging with local landowners and is in the process of preparing drilling approval applications for submission to the state government.
HRE is also working closely with the relevant Native Title groups to undertake Aboriginal cultural heritage clearances in accordance with established protocols.
'We anticipate this to be a straightforward process as Havilah Resources, the tenement holder for all HRE projects, has developed relationships with landowners and traditional custodians over nearly three decades of successful exploration work,' Ogierman said.
A likely target for M&A activity
With its projects in the same uranium-rich province and targeting the same deposit style as major ISR operations like Beverly/Four Mile and Honeymoon, HRE reckons it is well positioned to draw serious interest from companies such as Heathgate and Boss Energy should a discovery be made.
'We anticipate intense interest by at least those companies, perhaps others, in any uranium discoveries made by HRE,' he said.
'Our Prospect Hill asset is surrounded on three sides by US-based Heathgate Resources, with other uranium focused explorers in the area including Orpheus Uranium, Koba Resources and another US-based company Tristar.
'We believe HRE represents a potential low-cost entry into the uranium supply chain should we be fortunate enough that discovery success comes our way,' he added.