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Vital announces 'substantial' increase in resources at its Nechalacho rare earth project in Canada

Vladimir Basov

Kitco News

(Kitco News) - Canada's first rare earths mining company Vital Metals (ASX: VML; OTCQB: VTMXF) today reported a substantial increase in the mineral resource estimate for its Tardiff Upper Zone deposit, which forms part of the Nechalacho rare earth project in Canada's Northwest Territories.

The company said that updated mineral resource estimate (MRE) for the Tardiff Upper Zone at Nechalacho achieves a 26% increase in mineral resource tonnes and a 20% increase in total rare earth oxides (TREO) tonnes, adding that Tardiff is estimated to contain 1.67 million tonnes of TREO within a total mineral resource of 119.0 million tonnes at 1.4% TREO.

Vital noted that Tardiff is estimated to include 416,000 tonnes of neodymium and praseodymium (NdPr), a 19% increase over the previous MRE estimate dated 13 December 2019.

The company will commence drilling at Nechalacho this month, aiming to infill the Tardiff deposit to increase confidence in the inferred component of the MRE.

Vital said it aims to develop Tardiff to become a large-scale, long-life rare earths producer, adding that initial economic assessment for Tardiff is expected in Q3 CY23.

Managing Director John Dorward stated, "With a contained NdPr endowment of more than 416,000 tonnes, this updated MRE for the Tardiff deposit underlines the global significance of the Nechalacho rare earths project. This is why we recently sharpened our focus towards advancing Nechalacho through economic studies and permitting.

"Tardiff is one of the largest single deposits of these critical minerals in the Western World and responded extremely well to the drill bit in 2021 and 2022. We are excited to be launching our follow up drilling program in the current field season and look forward to reporting results over the coming months."

Vital Metals is Canada's first rare earths mining company following commencement of production at its Nechalacho rare earths project in Canada in June 2021. It holds a portfolio of rare earths, technology metals and gold projects located in Canada, Africa and Germany.

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By Vladimir Basov

For Kitco News

Contact vbasov@kitco.com
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