Rare Element Resources Ltd. (TSX-V: RES and AMEX: REE) has announced rare earth element (REE) assay results from an additional nine drill holes completed during its 2010 core drilling program at the Company's 100% owned Bear Lodge property, located in northeastern Wyoming, USA.
Assays are pending for another twenty-three drill holes. The current results are from the Bull Hill Southwest resource area, where an updated NI 43-101-compliant resource was estimated and reported in a news release dated May 26, 2010. The objectives of the 2010 drilling program were to expand the Bull Hill SW oxide resource and upgrade the resource category, and to explore for additional REE resources at the Bull Hill NW and Whitetail Ridge target areas. Previous assay results from the Bull Hill SW resource area and the Whitetail Ridge REE target area were reported in news releases dated 15 September and 9 November 2010.
Jim Clark, Vice President - Exploration states: "The assay results continue to demonstrate the continuity of the mineralized bodies at the Bull Hill SW resource area. Results from the 2010 drill program should allow us to expand the limits of the deposit and upgrade the resource category in our next NI 43-101 compliant resource estimate planned for completion early in the second quarter of 2011."
Drilling Results
The REE deposits in the Bear Lodge Mountains of northeastern Wyoming occur within a large alkaline igneous complex that domes adjacent Paleozoic and Mesozoic sedimentary rocks. The REE mineralization is hosted in dikes and veins of carbonatitic intrusive bodies and their near-surface oxidized equivalents (FMR). FMR refers to the major mineral constituents of the highly oxidized, former carbonatite dikes that occur in the depth range between the surface and 300 - 500 feet (91 - 152 meters) beneath the surface- F (FeOx)-M (MnOx)-R (REE minerals). A zone of partly oxidized carbonatite, termed transitional carbonatite has variable thickness and occurs beneath the FMR zone and above the deeper zone of unoxidized carbonatite.
REE assay values are reported by convention as the combined oxide equivalents (REO) of the fifteen elements in the lanthanide series + yttrium. The oxide equivalents are approximately 15.6% higher than the combined metal assay values. The Bear Lodge project contains predominantly the "light" REE (lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium, and neodymium), and economically important quantities of several of the "heavy" REE (europium, dysprosium, and terbium).
Bull Hill SW Resource Area
REE mineralization in the Bull Hill SW resource area is contained within intrusive dikes, veins, and stockwork of FMR, transitional carbonatite, and carbonatite that invade heterolithic intrusive breccia of the Bull Hill diatreme. Stockwork refers to a rock cut by a network of small veins or dikes that contain the mineralization. Most of the low-grade mineralization (1-2.5% REO) within the Bull Hill area deposits occurs in stockworks. Most of the REE mineralization in the current set of holes occurs within FMR dikes and veins.
All of the holes reported here were drilled along a bearing of N45ºE from a series of sites on a resource evaluation grid established for the Bull Hill SW deposit in conjunction with Ore Reserves Engineering, the Company's resource estimation consultant.
The drilling results continue to demonstrate that the target FMR and carbonatite bodies exhibit strong REE mineralization over a strike length of more than 1400 feet (426m). Interpretive correlations of drill intercepts suggest a structural bias toward vertical or near vertical dips and a transitional change in strike from northwesterly to almost due north in the northern part of the resource area.
Assaying and Quality Control
ALS Chemex conducted the assaying for the rare earth elements in their Vancouver, British Columbia assay facility. ALS Chemex Vancouver is accredited to ISO 9001 and operates according to ALS Group standards consistent with ISO 17025 methods at other laboratories. The samples were prepared and subjected to lithium metaborate fusion, followed by ICP analysis and a mass spectroscopy finish.
Analytical quality is monitored through the use of randomly inserted quality control samples, including standards, blanks, and duplicates, which are blinded to the analytical laboratory. Results of the analyses at ALS Chemex are evaluated continuously by the Company's QA/QC consultant, Dr Jeffrey Jaacks, who is a Qualified Person according to National Instrument 43-101, and the results indicate acceptable accuracy and precision. Blank analyses also indicate no issues with carry-over contamination. The Company is continuing to conduct a series of analytical "round-robin" test of four laboratories using samples with a known range of chemistry. The purpose of these tests is to evaluate the ongoing performance of the primary lab and to rank and rate the several labs that could be used as check labs or alternative options as a primary laboratory.
Source: Rare Element Resources Ltd.