Mount Ridley Mines Limited (ASX: MRD) has announced its maiden Gallium Mineral Resource Estimate (JORC 2012) for the Mt Ridley Project, located northeast of Esperance, Western Australia. Mount Ridley Mines is focused on developing a multi-element critical minerals project. The company’s project represents a rare example of a multi-element regolith-hosted system in WA, where gallium, scandium and heavy rare earths are interpreted to occur within the same saprolitic and lateritic horizons.
The Inferred Mineral Resource is estimated at 838.7 million tonnes at 29.3 ppm gallium (39.5 ppm Ga2O3) for 24,584 tonnes of contained gallium, reported at a 25 ppm cut-off. The resource is divided into three blocks. Block 1, the Central Gallium Zone, contains an Inferred Resource of 164.1Mt at 29.8 ppm Ga. Block 2, the Northern Extension, holds an Inferred Resource of 372.2Mt at 30.3 ppm Ga. Block 3, encompassing the Mia Prospect and Eastern Area, contains an Inferred Resource of 302.5Mt at 27.8 ppm Ga.
The maiden gallium resource is an important technical milestone for the Company, confirming gallium as a secondary mineral of economic interest within the same clay and saprolitic horizons that host the Project’s rare earth mineralisation. The gallium mineralisation extends for more than 25 kilometres in strike with an average width exceeding three kilometres and occurs from as shallow as four metres below surface to approximately sixty metres depth. The estimate is supported by 732 drillholes for 30,112 metres of drilling.
The Company is investigating potential innovative metallurgical solution programs targeting a mixed rare earth carbonate product with gallium and other critical elements as secondary recoveries. Mount Ridley is also assessing the broader critical mineral potential of the Mt Ridley Project, including scandium. Discussions are underway with Australian and international advisors with critical minerals, rare earth, and U.S.–Australia supply chain expertise to join the Company’s advisory and management teams.
