Gold Mountain Extends Rare Earth Zone by Over 1.5km at Irajuba

Exploration Breakthrough at Irajuba

Gold Mountain Limited (ASX, GMN) has announced promising results from its latest drilling campaign at the Irajuba Down Under Rare Earth Elements (REE) Project in Brazil. The company received assays from 112 samples across 16 auger drill holes, revealing high-grade total rare earth oxides (TREO) and magnet rare earth oxides (MREO), a subset of REEs critical for high-tech and clean energy applications.

Notably, one drill hole (IRAD250074) intersected 9 metres averaging 1,698 parts per million (ppm) TREO, including a 5-metre section with 2,057 ppm TREO and an impressive 44.5% ratio of MREO to TREO. This confirms the presence of thick mineralised profiles extending well beyond previously defined zones, with the IR-1 prospect area now showing mineralisation stretching 600 to 1,700 metres eastward.

Expanding the Mineralised Footprint

Beyond IR-1, a second auger drill traverse west of the IR-5 area extended the zone of interest by 500 to 900 metres, covering up to 170 hectares of similar geological and weathering conditions. These extensions suggest a broader mineralised system than initially anticipated, enhancing the project’s potential scale and economic viability.

Gold Mountain is actively progressing diamond drilling at the Irajuba-1 area and has initiated permitting for resource drilling at adjacent prospects IR-2 and IR-5. The company has also secured auger drilling permits to explore additional high-grade stream sediment and radiometric thorium anomalies near Maracas, indicating a multi-pronged approach to resource expansion.

Strategic Focus on Ion Adsorbed Clay REE Mineralisation

The Irajuba project’s mineralisation style is predominantly ion adsorbed clay (IAC), a form of REE deposit that is typically easier and more cost-effective to extract compared to hard rock deposits. This style is characterised by REE enrichment in weathered profiles, with heavy rare earth elements, including magnet rare earths, accumulating in the saprolite zone beneath the surface.

Gold Mountain’s exploration strategy targets both the broad dispersion halos of IAC mineralisation and the discovery of ultra-high-grade hard rock REE deposits hosted by mafic to ultramafic rocks. The recent drilling results validate this approach, revealing thick weathered profiles rich in valuable REEs and setting the stage for resource definition drilling.

Looking Ahead, Metallurgy and Environmental Considerations

With resource drilling underway and expanding, Gold Mountain is preparing for metallurgical testing to assess recovery rates and evaluate whether in situ leaching, a less invasive extraction technique, could be viable. This step is critical for determining the project’s economic feasibility and environmental footprint.

Environmental licensing remains a key consideration, especially as some tenements overlap with state nature reserves where mining requires thorough impact assessments and regulatory approvals. The company’s ability to navigate these requirements will influence project timelines and development prospects.

Overall, the latest drilling results mark a significant milestone for Gold Mountain’s Irajuba project, reinforcing its position in the competitive rare earth sector and highlighting Brazil’s emerging role as a source of critical minerals.