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Location: 20 km SE from Pocos de Caldas, Australia
Level 1, 35 Ventnor Street West PerthPerthWestern Australia, Australia6005
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Meteoric operates the Caldeira Project via its Brazilian subsidiary Meteoric Caldeira Mineração Ltda (Meteoric Brazil).
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Rare earths mineralisation at the Caldeira Project is enriched in magnet rare earth oxides (MREO) of dysprosium and terbium (DyTb) and neodymium and praseodymium (NdPr). The mineralisation is hosted in weathered clays which have significant cost and operating advantages relative to hard rock rare earths deposits.The key geological feature of the Project area is the Mesozoic Poços de Caldas Alkaline Complex (PCAC) which was intruded into the metamorphosed Paleoproterozoic rocks of the Brazilian shield. The intrusion of the PCAC and the associated volcanic equivalents were emplaced approximately 80 million years ago. The event is related to the final stages of the breakup of the Gondwana Continent and the formation of the Atlantic Ocean during the late Cretaceous. Initial volcanism is followed by collapse, leading to the formation of a major geomorphologic feature, comprising a large circular volcanic/intrusive edifice of over 800km2 that rises approximately 600-800m above the metamorphic basement.The main rock types found are intrusive and volcanic alkaline rocks of the nepheline syenite system, comprising phonolites and foidolites (syenites). High rainfalls and the unique potassium enriched chemistry of the intrusives that lack any primary quartz has led to the formation of a deep regolith profile. Within the regolith profile, clays and partially weathered rock (transition) have been identified up to 200m below the current land surface. Primary uranium and REE deposits have been known within the area since the 1950s and are characterised by late stage sulphidic breccias containing uranium oxides and bastnaesite with accessory monazite and xenotime as the major REE ore minerals. However, away from the higher-grade U-REE deposits, the dominant REE mineral in the source rock (syenite) beneath the clay zone is bastnaesite, a major source of REE worldwide. Bastnaesite is a REE carbonate-fluoride mineral (REE)CO3F which has very low levels of uranium and thorium in its mineralogical structure. Concentration of REE within ion adsorption deposits has been proposed to be a dominantly supergene process, where easily degradable REE-minerals break down and release REE that are then adsorbed onto clay mineral surfaces.The target REE mineralisation for Meteoric occurs below the soil layer within the clay zone. This is where REE grades and leaching recoveries are highest due to the ionic adsorption nature of the bonds between the REE and the clay minerals. The target ionic clay REE mineralisation (defined by >40% recovery of REE using a standard AMSUL wash at pH 4) is confined to the soil, clay, and weakly weathered transition layers. A total of 65% to 90% of these highly weathered zones are composed of minerals in a clay fraction (granulometry <2µm). Mineralisation ranges from 2ppm to 56,000ppm REE. Mineralisation is present throughout the vertical profile, but it is not distributed homogenously.DimensionsThe Mineral Resources have the following dimensions:• Soberbo - 2,600m x 3,800m in NE-SW direction;• Capao do Mel - 2,600m x 3,800m in NE-SW direction;• Figueira - 2,600m x 1,200m in N-S direction;• Barra do Pacu - 1,900m x 4,000m in N-S direction.
