Power Minerals has outlined a maiden conceptual Exploration Target of 9.2 million to 10.7 million tonnes at Morro do Ferro in Brazil, grading 7.8% to 9.2% TREO. The result gives the ongoing drilling program a clearer target, but 43% of the upper estimate comes from an untested projected extension and nine recent holes remain unassayed.
- 9.2Mt to 10.7Mt conceptual Exploration Target
- 7.8% to 9.2% TREO and 1.3% to 1.6% MREO
- 43% of the target projected beyond drilled ground
- Nine 2026 diamond holes excluded pending assays
- Maiden Mineral Resource assessment targeted for Q4 2026 to Q1 2027
Power Minerals Limited (ASX:PNN) has put a first number around the rare earth potential of its Morro do Ferro project in Brazil: 9.2 million to 10.7 million tonnes grading 7.8% to 9.2% total rare earth oxides, or TREO. The estimate includes an estimated 1.3% to 1.6% magnet rare earth oxides, but it is an Exploration Target rather than a Mineral Resource, and the distinction matters.
Drilling Supports 57% to 59% of the Target
Power’s model divides the target into a drilling-supported component and a projected extension. Depending on the grade shell used, the supported portion ranges from about 5.2 million to 6.4 million tonnes, while the projected component adds roughly 3.9 million to 4.4 million tonnes. The projection extends the interpreted mineralised envelope along trend and down-plunge into undrilled ground, with a maximum 200-metre step-out in the southern lobe.
The model draws on 169 drillholes, 3,241 assays covering 5,696 metres, drone LiDAR and integrated geophysical data. Power said verification sampling broadly matched historical assays, while three close-spaced twin holes returned a mean grade 6.6% below their historical comparisons. The limited dataset did not indicate systematic recovery-related grade bias, although a full historical recovery-versus-grade analysis has not been completed.
Southern Extension Carries the Main Geological Risk
The southern lobe is where the target becomes more speculative. About 62% of its modelled volume is projected rather than directly supported by drilling, compared with roughly one-quarter of the northern lobe. Power points to geophysical continuity, the orientation of mineralised veins, shallow historical drilling and surface exposures as support for the interpretation, but acknowledges that the variography does not validate the full 200-metre projection.
Nine 2026 diamond holes, MFSR-055 to MFSR-063, covering 1,158 metres, were excluded because assays were still pending at the database cut-off. Parts of MFSR-053 and MFSR-054 were also unassayed. Those results could materially change the tonnage and grade in either direction. The target also uses an assumed dry bulk density of 1.80 tonnes per cubic metre for the high-grade shells, calculated from normative mineralogy rather than directly measured within those shells; applying the measured whole-profile average would reduce the target to about 8.6 million to 10.0 million tonnes.
Drilling and Resource Work Continue
Two rigs are operating on a 25-hole, approximately 4,000-metre diamond program expected to run for eight weeks. The immediate focus is testing the projected southern extension and depth continuity, with further work planned on untested margins, two separate geophysical targets, bulk density, weathering profiles and metallurgy. Power estimates the drilling and analysis program at A$2.8 million, to be funded from existing cash reserves.
Subject to the pending assays and the results of the expanded program, Power intends to assess whether the dataset can support a maiden JORC Mineral Resource estimate in the fourth quarter of 2026 to the first quarter of 2027. Until then, the headline tonnage is best read as a map of what the company hopes to prove, not as a statement of what the project already contains.
Bottom Line?
The next valuation-sensitive step is not the Exploration Target itself, but whether pending assays, density work and southern-lobe drilling convert its conceptual component into a defensible Mineral Resource.
Questions in the middle?
- Will the nine unassayed diamond holes confirm or weaken the projected southern extension?
- Can additional density and weathering data support the 1.80 tonnes per cubic metre assumption used for the high-grade shells?
- Will the expanded drilling and metallurgical work provide enough evidence for a maiden Mineral Resource estimate by early 2027?