Enova Mining kicks off REE resource drilling at Brazil's Bald Hill

Enova Mining has begun drilling at the Bald Hill rare earth element prospect in Brazil, part of a push to define a resource at the Naked Hill project. The company is targeting ionic adsorption clay (IAC) rare earths, a deposit type that can be processed more cheaply than hard-rock mines. IAC ore is the kind that underpins projects in China and increasingly in Brazil, where several juniors are advancing similar targets.

The current program calls for 198 auger holes split into three phases. Phase 1 covers 61 holes on a 200-metre by 200-metre grid. Phases 2 and 3 will place the remaining holes on a 100-metre by 100-metre grid. Each phase feeds into the next, refining the geological model as results come in. The drill pattern targets the extent and continuity of saprolite-hosted REE mineralisation across the Bald Hill, Naked Hill, Hairy Hill and Flat Hill prospects.

Previous diamond and auger drilling already confirmed ionic adsorption clay amenability of REE-bearing saprolite from surface across multiple holes. CEO Eric Vesel said integrated mineral characterisation and hydrometallurgical test-work for selective REE extraction, led by Alexandre Rocha Da Rocha and Geological Consultores Associados, is progressing.