Kula Gold Bags Rare Earth Elements at Rankin Dome Project

After setting out in search of lithium and gold, Kula Gold has conducted a second round of drilling on its Rankin Dome project in Western Australia's Southern Cross region, discovering a rare earth element cluster. The project found some impressive results across the property, with 70% of the 375 samples exceeding 115 ppm total rare earth elements, with two samples peaking at 1080 ppm.

There were also 17 samples with total rare earth values in excess of 450 ppm. sampling was conducted at 50 meter intervals along a 400 meter interval at the interface of transported material and weathered bedrock. It is noteworthy that prior to Kula's arrival, the property was an undeveloped tract with no surface geochemical analysis or drilling.

The disclosure of rare earths is not a surprise to explorers as ASX-listed Krakatoa Resources, Frontier Resources and Lynas Rare Earths have all also identified the presence of rare earth elements within Yilgarn Craton. Lynas has the world-class Mt Weld mine, which is located 420km to the northeast of Kula, it has a proposed mineral resource of 55.4 million tonnes in 2018 with an average grade of 5.4% total rare earth oxides containing 3Mt tonnes of total rare earth oxides.

Lynas has described its deposit as "one of the highest grade rare earth deposits in the world". Given the known rare earth potential of the broader area, Kula decided to conduct an extensive elemental analysis of its samples, which revealed elevated rare earth concentrations in two potential host sources.

With the success of the second round of drilling, Kula Gold has resubmitted the gold and lithium slurry from the first phase of auger drilling conducted late last year and is eager to see if they will also produce rare earth results. The latest drill holes were designed to test the direction and extent of the low-level gold anomalies found in the first phase. While not hitting the initial gold and lithium targets, Kula appears to have been given a new opportunity at Rankin Dome.

Rare earths are a key component of many emerging technology components in the clean energy revolution. In particular, they are highly sought after in industrial magnets as well as in laser technology and other applications in the energy and defense sectors.

A 3-megawatt direct-drive turbine can use up to two tons of rare earth elements permanent magnets, and the wind turbine market is expected to account for about 30 percent of the growth in global rare-earth use from 2015 to 2025, Lynas said.

Kula Gold Ltd is a West Australian gold exploration company focused on large land positions and structural geological settings capable of hosting ~1m oz gold or equivalent size deposits. The company has projects in the Southern Cross goldfield region including Westonia Project, Rankin Dome Project, and Marvel Loch-Airfield Gold Project, as well as in the Brunswick and Kurnalpi-Lake Rebecca regions.

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