Rising Costs Met: RareX’s EIS Grant Accelerates Critical Minerals Hunt at Khaleesi

Government Boost for RareX’s Khaleesi Exploration

RareX Limited (ASX: REE) has secured a significant exploration funding boost with a $175,000 grant from Western Australia’s Exploration Incentive Scheme (EIS) for its Khaleesi Project. This co-funded drilling program, running from June 2025 to May 2026, will support reverse circulation (RC) drilling across multiple high-priority targets within the Khaleesi Alkaline Intrusion Complex (KAIC), a region already showing promising gallium mineralisation.

The grant covers up to 50% of direct drilling and mobilisation costs, easing the financial pressures of rising exploration expenses. RareX’s Managing Director James Durrant highlighted the grant as a strong endorsement of the project’s prospectivity and RareX’s technical approach, enabling accelerated testing of targets including the highly prospective Niobe prospect.

A Large-Scale Gallium System Emerges

The Khaleesi Project, located approximately 260 km northwest of Kalgoorlie within the Albany-Fraser Belt, has revealed extensive gallium mineralisation through historical aircore drilling and rock chip sampling. Gallium grades of up to 86 g/t Ga2O3 over significant widths have been recorded, with mineralisation extending over a broad 5 km by 3 km area. These results suggest a potentially very large, moderately mineralised system hosted within fractionated granitic rocks of the KAIC.

Notably, the Niobe prospect within the KAIC has demonstrated consistent gallium enrichment in both regolith and basement rocks, confirmed by rock chip assays reaching 81 g/t Ga2O3. The upcoming EIS-funded drilling will test multiple targets characterized by magnetic, gravity, and geochemical anomalies, aiming to delineate the extent and continuity of this mineralisation.

Strategic Location Amidst Proven Mineral Systems

The Khaleesi Project’s geological setting is compelling. It lies adjacent to the Mulga Rocks East Uranium and Rare Earth Elements deposits and near the Queen Victoria Spring Nature Reserve, home to Australia’s largest known carbonatite pipe, the Cundeelee Carbonatite, and the highly REE-mineralised Ponton Dyke. These nearby deposits underscore the region’s metallogenic potential for critical minerals such as rare earth elements, niobium, and gallium.

Historical exploration by major players including AngloGold Ashanti, Fortescue Metals Group, and IGO Limited focused on gold and base metals but also generated valuable multi-element geochemical data. RareX’s review and reinterpretation of this data have identified the KAIC as a fertile alkaline intrusive complex with significant potential for critical mineralisation.

Next Steps: Unlocking District-Scale Potential

The EIS co-funded drilling program will deploy RC drilling across six target areas, with hole depths averaging 100 meters. The focus extends beyond gallium to include rare earth elements and high field strength elements such as niobium, tantalum, zirconium, and hafnium. This comprehensive approach aims to unlock the district-scale potential of the Khaleesi Alkaline Intrusion Complex.

RareX’s strategy aligns with the growing global demand for critical minerals essential to emerging technologies and clean energy solutions. The Khaleesi Project, as RareX’s exploration flagship, complements its broader portfolio, including the Cummins Range Project, Australia’s largest undeveloped rare earths project.

As drilling progresses, RareX plans to provide regular updates to shareholders, with the potential for this exploration campaign to significantly enhance the company’s resource base and market positioning in the critical minerals sector.