Gold Mountain Finds 13km Rare Earth Extension in Brazil

Mineralisation Pushes Beyond Irajuba Target

Gold Mountain Limited (ASX:GMN) has opened up a much larger exploration footprint at its Down Under Project in Brazil, reporting rare earth mineralisation at least 13 kilometres west of the Irajuba Exploration Target. The results come from 747 samples collected across 89 shallow auger holes at the Ayrton Senna and Nova Itaipé prospects.

The headline intersection came from hole ASAD260113, which returned 10 metres at 2,145 parts per million total rare earth oxides (TREO) from 9 metres, including 2 metres at 4,607 ppm TREO. The interval carried a 47.4% magnet rare earth oxide (MREO) to TREO ratio, while 27 holes in total returned intersections grading between 1,000 and 4,607 ppm TREO.

Shallow Drilling Leaves Depth Unresolved

The results are notable for their spread as much as their grades. Mineralisation above the company’s 400 ppm TREO reporting cut-off appeared across northern, central, southern and southeastern drill traverses, often starting close to surface. Another strong result, from ASAD260057, delivered 10 metres at 1,551 ppm TREO from 5 metres, including 5 metres at 1,891 ppm.

Yet the drilling has not established the thickness or geometry of the system. The handheld auger program reached a maximum depth of 20 metres, with many holes averaging only 8.4 metres and ending within or near mineralised intervals. Gold Mountain says the deeper saprolite horizon remains insufficiently tested and may contain further mineralisation, although the reported down-hole lengths are not true widths.

The grade profile also contains a potentially useful mix of magnet rare earths. MREO ratios reached 58.5%, with a median of 41.1% for intersections above 1,000 ppm TREO. That composition is relevant to the company’s stated exploration focus, but it does not by itself establish recoverability or economic value.

Metallurgy Now Becomes the Decisive Test

Selected mineralised intervals will undergo preliminary ammonium sulphate leach screening at ALS, with samples producing favourable initial results then moving to the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation for more definitive testing. The work is intended to assess whether the mineralisation behaves consistently with an ionic adsorption clay system and how readily the rare earths can be extracted.

There are important limits around the current assays. The samples were analysed using a partial extraction method that may not fully recover rare earths from refractory minerals, and the program included no standards, blanks or duplicates. Gold Mountain states that the results are exploration geochemistry only: they do not form part of the Irajuba Exploration Target, and no Mineral Resource or Exploration Target has yet been estimated for Ayrton Senna.

Further auger drilling and pending assays will help define where deeper work is warranted. Areas returning favourable ANSTO results are expected to be prioritised for diamond drilling, leaving the next phase to answer the question the reconnaissance program cannot: whether a broad, shallow signal can become a continuous and recoverable mineralised body.