Wealth Minerals (WML-V) is kicking off an exploration program for rare earth elements (REE) in Argentina at Rodeo de los Molles, an undeveloped REE project that the company says is one of the largest in South America.
Wealth Minerals is earning an interest in Rodeo de los Molles, which is in San Luis province, about 300 km southwest of the city of Cordoba.
The company believes that the mineralization at Rodeo de los Molles is similar to that of Molycorp.’ s (MCP-N) Mountain Pass REE deposit in California. The Mountain Pass mine operated from 1952-2002.
Wealth Minerals signed an option agreement in May with MHSRL, a private Argentine company, to buy a 100% interest in the property by spending US$150,000 on exploration within 12 months and making subsequent payments over the next five years of US$3.6 million.
An historic resource estimate prepared in 1992, based on about 6,000 metres of shallow drilling and metallurgical testwork by previous owners, outlined a deposit of 5.6 million tonnes grading 2.1% total rare element oxides (TREO).
The Vancouver-based junior says that based on the historical data, the deposit remains open in all directions.
So far, the company has collected three rock-chip samples from outcropping mineralization at the project that returned assays ranging from 7.4% to 35.5% TREO. The samples contained a heavy rare earth oxide component ranging from 5.0% to 55.5%, and 0.15% to 0.92% of U3O8.
A fourth sample collected from an unmineralized outcrop, returned a value of 0.11% TREO, and 12.1 parts per million uranium. The company believes these results indicate that there is potential to expand beyond the known mineralized zones.
Wealth Minerals has started a two-phase program to conduct a detailed surface assessment of the known mineralization and pinpoint new zones, as well as confirm the resource.
During the first phase, the company expects to complete a geochemical and geo-metallurgical study, channel-saw sampling of outcropping REE mineralization, as well as geological mapping and prospecting to expand the known resource. The company estimates the first phase will take three months and cost about $300,000.
In the second phase, the company will complete roughly 1,000 metres of drilling over the course of a month at a cost of $250,000.
The 72-hectare property is within 2 km of a paved road and within 8 km of electrical transmission lines.
Wealth Minerals has hired a rare earths specialist, Alastair Neill, as an advisor. Neill is the former vice-president and general manager of the rare earth division of AMR Technologies (now Neo Material Technologies [NEM-T]).
At presstime in Toronto, Wealth Minerals was trading at 62¢ per share, within a 52-week range of 25¢-75¢.
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