Mining & Trade News

ASX-listed DY6 Metals has announced that it will commence follow-up exploration at high-grade Tundulu Gallium and Machinga Rare Earth Elements (REE) projects in southern Malawi.

DY6 Executive Chairman Daniel Smith explained in a Press Statement that the Company’s in-country team has already commenced community engagement within the prospecting licence areas ahead of these upcoming activities.

The highlights of the studies include:

Tundulu Rare Earth, Phosphate and Gallium Project

•  Follow-up exploration commencing: 75 soil and rock chip samples planned to build on the discovery of high-grade gallium (Ga) mineralisation.
• Large upside potential: Only 40% of the highly prospective area has been drill tested; mineralisation remains open at depth with the deep-seated gallium potential not assayed for.
• High-grade historical results: intercepts include 64.63g/t Ga2O3, 1.03% TREO from 45m for 25m, including 9m at 81.85g/t Ga203 from 61m (drillhole TU008), and up to 310.46 g/t Ga2O3, 5.68% TREO from 97m to 98m in drillhole TU043.

Machinga Heavy Rare Earths and Niobium Project

• New sampling campaign: 116 soil and rock chip samples planned to be collected across a 400m x 200m sample grid, targeting a strong radiometric anomaly as well as a follow-up of the recent results from the maiden Reverse Circulation (RC) & Diamond Drilling (DD) drilling campaign.
• Strong maiden RC and Diamond drilling results (2023): - 15.1m @ 1.01% TREO, 0.36% Nb2O5 from 23.9m (3.71% Dy/ Tb/TREO) incl. - 4m @ 1.75% TREO, 0.63% Nb2O5 from 33m (3.8% Dy/Tb/TREO) drilled downdip (diamond drillhole MDD007).
• Continuity confirmed: Mineralised zones correlate strongly with radiometric anomalies, enhancing confidence in targeting higher-grade areas with future drilling.
• Machinga remains significantly underexplored.

TUNDULU RARE EARTH AND PHOSPHATE PROJECT

A review of historical drilling at the Tundulu Rare Earth and Phosphate project in southern Malawi has uncovered high-grade gallium mineralisation from surface. This discovery complements the significant Rare Earth and Phosphate mineralisation already known in the licence area.

The planned campaign will collect 75 samples at Tundulu Project along with 11 sampling lines spaced at 50m intervals from north to South. The sample spacing on these lines will be at an alternating spacing of 50m and 100m. This sampling campaign targets ~60% of previously untested areas, while some sampling points are almost twinned with historic data points to confirm previously reported surface mineralisation.

MACHINGA HREE AND NB PROJECT

The recent rock chip results from the 2023 to 2024 soil and rock chip sampling programmes revealed significant exploration potential south of the initial drilling focus, with a significantly sized 2.7km long soil geochemical anomaly NW to SE.

The Company's rock chip sampling results over the southern region of Machinga anomaly follows a similar trend pattern to historic results by Globe Metals & Mining, potentially indicating additional REE mineralisation to be confirmed through future exploration. Based on these findings. additional field work has been recommended for the southern part of the new licence area EL0705 to define targets for future DY6 drilling programmes.

The Planned Soil and Rock chip sampling programme will commence shortly, with 116 samples planned on a 400m x 200m sample grid. This programme aims to test the radiometric and historical geochemical anomaly on recently granted licence EL0705, located to the south of the previously drilled and sampled area.

DY6 Metals CEO Cliff Fitzhenry said: "Previous identification of high-grade gallium mineralisation at Tundulu presents a unique opportunity for DY6 to advance a critical metal alongside rare earths and phosphate. With only a portion of the licence area tested to date, we see significant potential to expand the footprint of gallium and rare earth mineralisation across both Tundulu and Machinga.”

“The upcoming sampling programs are designed to build on our recent successes and to further define high-value targets for follow-up drilling. Importantly, our initial work at Machinga has already confirmed excellent grade continuity, giving us confidence in the growth potential of these projects. We are excited to be advancing exploration in Malawi at a time when demand for critical metals is forecast to grow strongly."

METALURGICAL UPDATE – TUNDULU RARE EARTH PROJECT

Meanwhile, preliminary metallurgical testwork undertaken on a 120kg composite sample from a high-grade historic trench (TUTR10) at Tundulu has returned grades of 1.88% TREO and 9.07% P2O5.

The REE mineralogy is dominated by bastnaesite and synchysite which are finely distributed in an apatite carbonate gangue, closely resembling the mineralogy of the nearby Songwe Hill Project (Mkango Resources), thereby supporting regional metallurgical familiarity.  

Flotation testwork undertaken by DY6 to date has been limited, with only 16 flotation tests undertaken. Fitzhenry explained that the Company considers that through further testwork, it will be possible to achieve a concentrate grade suitable for treatment via a centralised hydrometallurgical plant.

He said the elevated phosphate grades of the deposit are also amenable to being upgraded into a flotation concentrate, thereby providing the potential opportunity of developing a fast and cheap direct fertiliser product from the near-surface high grade phosphate zones within the deposit. This offers a staged approach to overall project development from an initial low risk and low capital investment.

Bioavailability test work targeting phosphate-rich rocks, in order to determine the solubility of phosphate in the samples and to understand its potential for direct fertilization, showed excellent P solubility (using 2% citric acid) of over 40%, with one test returning solubility of 81%. This is above the industry threshold of 9.4% P2O5 solubility using citric acid as the reagent in the acid leach process.  

“These preliminary metallurgical testwork results, while in no way exhaustive, are encouraging. The fine-grained nature of the dominant REE minerals (bastnaesite and synchysite) hosted within an apatite carbonate gangue has highlighted the need to undertake additional testwork to produce a high grade concentrate suitable for processing within a hydrometallurgical plant. Additionally, the high phosphate grades lend a co-product phosphoric acid grade flotation concentrate opportunity. We are confident that, with carefully planned follow-up testwork we will be able to further unlock the significant co-product opportunity that exists at Tundulu,” Fitzhenry commented.

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