Magnum completes drilling as Piracanjuba rare earths project moves toward resource

Drilling milestone shifts Piracanjuba into resource definition

Magnum Mining and Exploration Limited (ASX:MGU) has finished the 10,000-metre drilling campaign that forms the next test of its Brazilian rare earths story. The company reports 10,313.97 metres across 867 auger collars at Piracanjuba North, within its 1,049km² Azimuth project in Goiás, and is now concentrating on the 32.5km² Plateau Zone.

About 7,137 metres across 576 collars sit within that plateau area, which Magnum has selected as the priority for infill drilling and resource definition. A further 2,000-metre diamond drilling phase is planned, subject to board approval, while independent groups GE21, CETEM and GLP are working across resource estimation, ore characterisation, metallurgical testing and naturally occurring radioactive material studies.

Large exploration target still awaits a mineral resource

The headline scale is substantial but provisional. Piracanjuba North carries a conceptual Exploration Target of 700 million to 1.2 billion tonnes at 500-650 parts per million TREO across roughly 44km². Magnum explicitly cautions that there has been insufficient exploration to estimate a Mineral Resource and that further work may not result in one.

The company says all 298 holes reported to date have intersected TREO mineralisation, with no blank result. That continuity is encouraging as an exploration signal, but it does not by itself establish economic continuity, recoverable tonnage or a mineable deposit. The November resource target remains dependent on drilling results, technical work and the assumptions applied in the JORC assessment.

Desorption results point to a potentially valuable rare earth basket

Magnum’s case rests not only on total rare earth content but on what can be released from the clay under mild leaching conditions. Across the 86 most recently reported holes, whole-hole desorbable TREO ranged from 8ppm to 410ppm. The strongest result was 7 metres at 410ppm desorbable TREO from surface in hole PIR-AH-0245, with the richest interval grading 1,072ppm and a reported 59% desorption rate.

The company also reports that magnet rare earth oxides accounted for 32.5% of desorbable TREO, compared with 21.9% of head-grade TREO in that sample set. These results came from laboratory screening using an ammonium sulphate protocol at an initial pH of 4. They are not metallurgical recoveries or evidence of commercial-scale performance, leaving testwork and eventual economic studies to establish how much value can be extracted.

November resource target is the next major test

Magnum’s stated pathway runs from the completed drilling programme to a maiden JORC resource in November 2026, followed by an initial scoping study targeted for January 2027 and a pre-feasibility study targeted for June 2027. Those dates are targets rather than commitments, and the presentation says they remain subject to exploration outcomes, technical results, approvals and funding.

The wider portfolio provides optionality, including the Palmares rare earths project in Bahia, the Parker copper-gold project and the Wet Mountain rare earths project in the United States. But Piracanjuba North is currently carrying the clearest near-term valuation test: whether a broad, conceptual exploration story can be converted into a JORC-compliant resource with credible recoverability and development characteristics.