Canadian mineral exploration company Volta Metals has reported the latest rare earth drill results from its inaugural programme at the Springer rare earth deposit near Sudbury, Ontario, Canada.
The assay results from the remaining boreholes highlighted that every hole encountered continuous mineralisation extending beneath the 2012 mineral resource estimate (MRE) shell.
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Moreover, the results show higher heavy rare earth element (HREE) intercepts over wide intervals, including significant grades of dysprosium and terbium oxides.
Borehole SL25-24 intersected a high-grade interval averaging 184.04 grams per tonne (g/t) dysprosium oxide plus terbium oxide (157.8g/t dysprosium oxide and 26.22g/t terbium oxide) across 27.1m, from 124.4m to 151.5m.
Meanwhile, borehole SL25-23 was mineralised with total rare earth oxides (TREOs) throughout its entire hole, averaging 0.89% TREOs over 383.5m (from 44m to 427.5m, end of hole), including 1.71% TREOs over 69.5m.
Multiple high-grade intervals of heavy rare earth oxides (HREOs) and light rare earth oxides were also observed.
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By GlobalDataBorehole SL25-26 also exhibited continuous TREOs mineralisation throughout, with 0.65% TREOs over 283.8m from 7.5m to 291.3m (end of hole), with a higher-grade section of 0.94% TREOs over 100m, from 12.5m to 112.5m.
In all reported holes, mineralisation remains open both at depth and along strike.
Gallium assay results for all four boreholes are still pending.
The HREEs dysprosium and terbium are essential for producing high-performance permanent magnets used in electric vehicle motors, wind turbine generators and industrial robotics.
The current indicative spot prices are approximately $180,000 per tonne (t) for dysprosium oxide and $802,000/t for terbium oxide.
The drilling campaign’s results confirm a substantial HREO component within the TREOs.
In the latest drill programme results, HREOs account for an average of 10.9% of the overall TREOs basket value, largely comprising dysprosium, terbium, yttrium and gadolinium.
The high-grade TREOs encompass light rare earth oxides including praseodymium, lanthanum, cerium, neodymium and samarium.
Volta Metals CEO Kerem Usenmez said: “These drill results validate our view that the Springer deposit represents a rare convergence of location, grade, scale and mineralogy – an increasingly scarce combination globally.
“The expansion of high-grade TREOs at depth, together with a confirmed strong proportion of heavy rare earths, marks an important step forward as we move toward updating the mineral resource estimate in early 2026. This level of growth has the potential to fundamentally reshape the project’s trajectory ahead of the upcoming NI 43-101 resource update.”
In April, Volta Metals announced it was satisfied with the due diligence process for its acquisition of an 80% stake in the Springer-Lavergne rare earth and gallium project near Sturgeon Falls, Ontario.
