Rare earths processor Great Western Minerals Group provided Wednesday a corporate update on its activities, and said that its preliminary economic assessment (PEA) for its Steenkampskraal project previously scheduled for the end of January has been postponed to sometime before the end of the first quarter.

The delay is due to the company gathering additional metallurgical and capex data in light of the recently expanded resource estimate announced last week.

Great Western last week released an updated NI 43-101 compliant resource estimate at Steenkampskraal, prepared by Snowden Mining Industry Consultants, which showed a mineral resource of 32,000 metric tonnes of total rare earth oxides plus yttrium oxide (TREO) under the indicated category, and another 42,100 metric tonnes under the inferred category. Both categories used a 1% TREO cut-off grade.

Indicated resources rose by more than double from the resource estimate last May, while inferred resources more than tripled.

On Monday, the company also announced a 9,400-metre, 65-hole diamond drilling program at its past-producing Steenkampskraal property in South Africa. With its new drilling program, Great Western said it will also do infill drilling on areas of lower data density in order to upgrade inferred mineral resources to the indicated category, and selected orientated core drilling in support of planned underground developments.

Great Western has announced a series of management additions and changes in recent weeks in preparation for a new stage in the life of the company, as it aims to become a fully integrated rare earth producer.

Currently, Great Western is a rare earth processor, whose specialty alloys are used in the magnet, battery, defence and aerospace industries. Produced at the company’s subsidiaries Less Common Metals (LCM) in Birkenhead, U.K. and Great Western Technologies (GWT) in Troy, Michigan, these alloys contain aluminum, nickel, cobalt and rare earth elements (REE). 

Its development program at Steenkampskraal is central to ensure a strong flow of feedstock for its downstream processing - the company intends to be one of the first to produce significant quantities of the more valuable heavy rare earth oxides, which are important materials for alloys.

Also in the update today, the relocation of its UK-based LCM facility is now virtually complete, with the new location housing LCM's first strip casting furnace with provision for substantial expansion.

All equipment that had been in operation at the Valley Road site, including the analytical laboratory, has been relocated to Hooton Park and is now fully operational, Great Western said.

Sampling has been undertaken for all key customers, the company added, and LCM is progressing into advanced stages of "commercial supply contract / technical approval" stages.

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Galileo Resources has found "significant" high-grade rare earth mineralisation at a second target on the Nkombwa Hill project in Zambia.

It follows rock chip sampling and the highest find was recorded at 22.32% TREO (total rare earth oxide).

Notably, the firm said the mineralisation was in rock with very low contents of acid-consuming minerals, which suggests the rare earths could be readily leachable at low acid cost.

The firm says it can now progress to establishing a resource at the project.

It carried out 353 rock chip samples at what is called the "central" target.

Of these, 111, or 36%, assayed more than  2% TREO with an average assay of 4.17% TREO.

The complete suite of samples averaged 1.7%TREO, Galileo told investors.

Several areas of  continuous rare earth mineralisation was identified - the largest being over 350m long and 40-80m in width.

Executive chairman Colin Bird said: "The results of this sampling programme extend the area of high-grade rare earth mineralisation we have identified in the Nkombwa Hill Project. 

"We can now progress towards establishing a resource, and in order to achieve this, have already started work on establishing a suitable access road to the top of Nkombwa Hill. Drilling will commence as soon as the heavy summer rains end in late March 2013."

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Pele Mountain Resources Inc.  announced additional drill results from the recent 13-hole drill program at its Eco Ridge Mine Rare Earths and Uranium Project at Elliot Lake, Ontario.

Nine of the eleven holes significantly exceeded the average U3O8 grade, and nine of the eleven holes significantly exceeded the total REO grade, of the resource wireframe.

Pele’s President and CEO, Al Shefsky, said:

These results continue to exceed expectations and have the potential to add substantial resources and years of mine-life to the project. The MCB clearly continues to the northwest and the mineralized intersections appear to be increasing in thickness and grade to the northwest, as depth increases.

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The biggest mover this week was rare earth carbonate with a 4.4 percent fall.

The price of dysprosium oxide decreased 3.5 percent from the previous week. After a 2.5 percent decline, europium oxide closed out the week down as well.

Yttria saw a 2.1 percent decline over the past week. Cerium oxide remained unchanged for the week. Following a steady week, prices for lanthanum oxide closed flat as well.

The prices of neodymium oxide, praseodymium neodymium oxide, praseodymium oxide and samarium oxide prices all held steady from the previous week.

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