Dreadnought Resources Finds Rare Earth Intrusions at Mangaroon Project

A recent airborne magnetic survey by Dreadnought Resources at the Mangaroon Project in the Gascoyne area of Western Australia identified five potential rare earth element (REE)-bearing carbonate intrusions. The survey identified multiple ovoid magnetic anomalies that are located south of the crustal-scale Lyon River Fault and have a similar appearance to the textbook examples of an igneous carbonate intrusion.

Dreadnought says these intrusions are central to all known REE- and niobium-bearing ironstone dikes and fit the classical carbonate intrusion model. They range in size from 1,000 meters by 1,000 meters to 800 meters by 500 meters, with an internal ring and a magnetic (possibly fenite alteration) halo around the intrusions.

Over 99% of the interpreted carbonate intrusions are not evident at the surface and are masked by calcification and alluvial plains, with few exposures indicated. Recent ground truthing in Mangaroon Project also confirms the presence of intrusive carbonates in these features, with the potential for large-scale REE mineralization.

Multiple rock chip samples have been collected from two carbonate rocks for assaying and results are expected in the new year. The Company plans to conduct another field trip before the end of the year for a second mapping and surface sampling effort. Drill testing of the carbonate rocks will begin in March next year as part of a more extensive drilling program at Mangaroon.

General Manager Dean Tuck said that for nearly three decades, explorers have been searching for the ultimate source of the numerous carbonate dikes and rocks associated with the Gifford Creek Carbonate Complex in the area. With the availability of modern high-resolution magnetic data, we believe these carbonate intrusions may have been located," he said. “This discovery could be significant for the area and we look forward to receiving the rock chip assay results and then drilling the carbonates next year."

Mangaroon covers approximately 4,500 square kilometers of the Mangaroon district in the Gascoyne region of Western Australia, which is home to the Bangemall/Cobra and Star of Mangaroon Gold Centres high-grade gold mines and the high-grade Yangibana REE deposit operated by Hastings Technology Metals on behalf of Cadence Minerals in the UK.

Since acquiring the project in late 2020, Dreadnought Resources has intersected outcropping high-grade gold-bearing quartz veins along the Edmund and Minga Bar faults; high-tensile nickel-copper-platinum group element (PGE) bleached sulphides on the recently defined Money intrusion; and outcropping high-grade rare earth ironstones, similar to those being developed at Yangibana.