Great Western boosted by Hoidas rare earths resource

Vancouver – Rare-earths explorer Great Western Minerals (GWG-V, GWMFG-O) more than doubled tonnage of measured and indicated resources at Hoidas Lake.

The Hoidas Lake project, 50 km northeast of Uranium City, Sask., is one of five rare earth element properties owns or has under option in North America and South Africa. 

Measured resources leapt ahead from 80,000 tonnes to 963,808 tonnes grading 2.142% total rare earth elements (TREE). Indicated resources grew 49% to 1.6 million tonnes grading 1.958% TREE.

Of those rare earth elements in the resource Great Western says 87% is made up of lanthanum, cerium and neodymium. Of the 2.6-million-tonne measured and indicated resource neodymium grades 0.42%.

“This high proportion of neodymium, used in permanent magnet electric motors, supports the economics of the Hoidas Lake project and moving forward with the (scoping study),” Great Western writes in its press release outlining the new resource.

Great Western says it is considering a 20 year mine with 500-tonne-per-day throughput.

At Hoidas the bulk of baseline environmental fieldwork is done, Great Western says.

To update the Hoidas resource estimate Great Western added 32 drillhole results from 2008 and 88 holes drilled since 2001.

Veins parallel to the Nisikkatch-Hoidas fault hold rare earth element mineralization at Hoidas. Great Western says mineralization is still open along strike and at depth.

News of the updated resource estimate helped boost Great Western’s shareprice 3.5¢ to 30¢. Great Western has about 200.6 million shares outstanding.

Hoidas is 100% owned by Great Western.

Elsewhere, in New Brunswick Great Western finished a 1,700 km airborne magnetic and radiometric survey at its Benjamin River project and in South Africa it made a second option payment on the past-producing Steenkampskraal project.

Now that Great Western has made the second payment to project-owner Rare Earth Extraction, the latter has provided to Great Western updated estimates of capital and operating costs of a proposed recommissioning of the Steenkampskraal rare earth element mine.

Subsequent to the second payment Great Western says it has begun to negotiate a supply agreement with Rare Earth Extraction for 100% of the proposed mine’s rare earth element production.