Miramar Resources Limited announced that it has submitted two new Exploration Licence applications over a rare earth element (REE) placer target in the Gascoyne region of Western Australia. The new target is characterised by a large coastal embayment north of the mouth of the Gascoyne River where a series of parallel historical shorelines are seen. The Gascoyne River drains a very large catchment area covering approximately 71,000 square kilometres and containing several significant bedrock REE discoveries.

Heavy mineral strandlines are formed along current and historical coastlines as a result of wave action. The local geological setting of the target is analogous to the Coburn minerals sands project, near Shark Bay, and other heavy mineral sands (+/- REE) deposits along the west coast of Australia. Previous workers looking for heavy mineral sands in the area identified REE-bearing heavy minerals, including monazite and xenotime, but no systematic REE-focussed work was completed (ref: WAMEX a029292).

Limited historical surface sampling across the embayment identified additional heavy mineral strandlines but no drilling or REE-focussed work was completed (ref: WAMEX a109570 and a115124). Once granted, the Company plans to conduct systematic surface sampling and shallow auger and/or aircore drilling to test for accumulations of heavy mineral sands, including REE-bearing heavy minerals.