Mexico Lithium Project - NI43-101 Technical Report

RNS Number : 3775X

Rare Earth Minerals PLC

10 January 2014

 



10 January 2014

Rare Earth minerals plc

("Rare Earth Minerals", "REM" or "the Company")

Mexico Lithium Project - NI43-101 Technical Report

Rare Earth Minerals (AIM: REM) is pleased to announce that the Company's Joint Venture Partner Bacanora Minerals Ltd ("Bacanora") has filed the Technical Report ("Report") on new alkali metal and alkali earth metal inferred resource in respect of the Fleur and El Sauz concessions ("Concessions") that form part of the Sonora Lithium Project in northern Mexico.

The Report, in compliance with the recognised Canadian Security Administrators' National Instrument 43-101 and CIM guidelines for reporting resources and reserves, has been filed by Bacanora on SEDAR and is also available for download on the Company's website at www.rareearthmineralsplc.com. A summary of the new resources for selected alkali metals is contained within Table 1.

Table 1. Summary of New Resources for selected alkali metals on the Concessions. Grade

						Grade
Cut-off (ppm Li)	True1 Thickness (m)	Tonnage	Li ppm	K %	Rb ppm	Cs ppm	Mg %	Sr ppm
Upper Clay
1,000	18.30	57,700,000	1,381	0.59	157	473	1.67	1,274
2,000	6.80	20,060,000	2,748	1.07	267	537	2.16	1,136
3,000	8.10	9,846,000	3,398	1.17	301	560	2.06	1,375
Lower Clay
1,000	27.60	96,103,000	2,526	1.10	263	702	1.77	983
2,000	14.70	68,211,000	3,278	1.34	331	807	2.22	1,007
3,000	24.00	44,083,000	4,030	1.65	379	886	2.18	1,092
Combined Clay Units
1,000	45.90	153,806,000	2,052	0.91	224	617	1.73	1,092
2,000	21.50	88,271,000	3,163	1.28	317	749	2.21	1,036
3,000	32.10	53,929,000	3,922	1.56	364	822	2.16	1,148

1 True thickness is estimated to be 94% of drill intercepts.

2 It should be noted that figures expressed above are gross figures. The Concessions are the subject of a joint venture between the Company and REM, pursuant to which REM has an option to earn up to a 49.9% interest. To date, REM has earned a 30% interest.

David Lenigas, the Company's Chairman commented:

"The potentially valuable alkali metals and alkali earth metals, such as potassium, cesium, rubidium and strontium will also be assessed in more detail in this next phase of exploration. A number of these alkali metals could add strongly to the Project's overall economics once their grades and recovery techniques have been determined as part of this second phase of drilling and metallurgical reviews."

"The joint venture will be advancing the Sonora Project significantly this quarter, with the second stage of drilling planned for completion. A great deal of work is also underway on the metallurgy of the lithium bearing clays and REM looks forward to reporting these results shortly and ultimately the first preliminary economic evaluation of the Project."

Summary of the Report

The Report has been prepared in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101") and is entitled, Initial Estimate of Inferred Resources for Alkali Metals and Alkali Earth Metals - El Sauz & Fleur Concessions - Sonora Lithium Project. The lead author of the Technical Report is Carl G. Verley, P.Geo., who is a "qualified person" within the meaning of NI 43-101 and is independent of Bacanora. The Report has been filed on SEDAR and is also available for download on Bacanora's website (www.bacanoraminerals.com).

The Report summarizes a new alkali metal and alkali earth metal inferred resource (as initially announced by Bacanora by press release on November 25, 2013) based on analytical results obtained from pulps of core samples previously analysed in connection with the Bacanora's lithium (Li) drilling programs, which were re-analysed by ALS Global, an internationally recognized and ISO accredited laboratory, using method ME-MS811, in order to achieve better definition of alkali values above detection limits of the previous analytical method that was used in connection with Li analyses (ME-MS412).

The ranges of values across the clay units for selected elements, magnesium (Mg), potassium (K), rubidium (Rb), strontium (Sr) and cesium (Cs) are summarized in Table 2 below.

Table 2. Ranges of analyses for selected alkalis on the Concessions

	Li ppm	K %	Rb ppm	Cs ppm	Mg %	Sr ppm
Upper Clay	41 - 6,200	0.12 - 1.75	23 - 480	34 - 1,805	0.13 - 5.21	128 - 8,380
Lower Clay	38 - >10,000	0.12 - 4.45	14- 880	68 - 3,000	0.16 - 5.52	31 - 6,820

The lower clay unit shows significant enrichment in alkali metals in comparison to the upper clay unit.   Based on the intervals used to estimate inferred lithium resources for the Concessions (which have been declared in accordance with NI 43-101 (for a discussion of such resources, please refer to Bacanora's news release dated August 28, 2013)) at varying Li cutoffs, new inferred resources for selected alkalis have been estimated for those same intervals based on the Li cut-offs. These new inferred resources for selected alkalis are tabulated above (Table 1). Further testing will be necessary to confirm economic feasibility of recovering these elements as either co-products or by-products in a potential future mining and processing operation. Bacanora plans to initiate further metallurgical testing to determine if these elements are recoverable.).

Investors are cautioned that the resource estimate does not mean or imply that an economic lithium deposit exists on the Concessions. Mineral resources are not mineral reserves as they do not have demonstrated economic viability. Further testing will need to be undertaken to confirm economic feasibility.

Glossary of technical terms

1)   ME-MS81: analytical method consists of aqua regia digestion of a 1 gram aliquot of prepared sample pulp. The resulting solution is analysed using a combination of ICP-AES and ICP-MS instruments.

2)   ME-MS41: analytical method consisting of lithium borate fusion of a 1 gram aliquot of prepared sample pulp followed by acid digestion. The resulting solution is analysed by ICP-MS instrumentation 

3)   LCE = lithium carbonate equivalent (Li2CO3): determined by multiplying Li value in percent by 5.324 to get an equivalent Li2CO3value in percent. Use of LCE is to provide data comparable with industry standards. 

- Ends -

For further information please contact: 

Rare Earth Minerals plc                                                            [phone]

David Lenigas

Kiran Morzaria

WH Ireland Limited (NOMAD & Joint Broker)                           [phone]

James Joyce

Nick Field

XCAP Securities plc (Joint Broker)                                           [phone]

Guy Peters

Jon Belliss

Square1 Consulting

David Bick                                                                                 [phone]

Mark Longson

 

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