Rare earth explorer Rare Element Resources (TSX-V: RES, AMEX: REE) announced Tuesday additional results from the 2010 core drilling program at its Bear Lodge property in northeastern Wyoming, reporting some of the best intercepts to date.
The results are from drilling completed on the Bull Hill Southwest and Northwest areas, as well as a potential new target zone that could be the northwestern extension of the Whitetail Ridge area.
Highlights from the Bull Hill Southwest area include 76.5 ft at 10.01% TREO (total rare earth oxides) and 34 ft at 4.06% TREO in hole RES10-37; 47.5 ft at 3.97% TREO and 107.5 ft at 3.06% TREO in hole RES10-33; and 293 ft at 3.51% TREO, including 23 ft at 7.29% TREO in hole RES10-40;
Notable intercepts from the Bull Hill Northwest zone include 14 ft at 16.53% TREO in hole RES-42 and 11 ft at 4.82% TREO in hole RES 10-43.
"The current assay set includes some of the best results to date. The data show that the Bull Hill SW deposit is open to the southeast, with excellent REE grades right up to the limit of drilling," said vice president of exploration, Jim Clark.
"The results from drill hole RES10-33 demonstrate that strong REE mineralization is present west of the West Bull Hill fault and open up a significant area for further resource definition."
The company said it plans to include the results in the next NI 43-101 compliant resource estimate for the site, scheduled for completion in the second quarter this year. The last estimate for the two Bull Hill zones was done in May 2010.
The possible Whitetail extension also yielded a significant intercept of 30 ft at 4.69% TREO in hole SUN-079. This hole was drilled some 1200 feet from Whitetail Ridge, which suggests that the area may be larger than originally conceived, the company said.
Rare-earth elements are key components of green energy technologies. Some of the major applications include hybrid automobiles, plug-in electric automobiles, advanced wind turbines, computer hard drives, compact fluorescent light bulbs and metal alloys.
The Bear Lodge project contains predominantly the "light" rare earth elements (lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium, and neodymium), and quantities of several of the "heavy" elements (europium, dysprosium, and terbium), which are more valuable.
The 2010 drilling program was designed to expand and upgrade the resource category at Bull Hill Southwest and explore for additional resources at the Bull Hill Northwest and Whitetail Ridge areas.