Barkly Rare Earths reports 43 of 44 drill holes hit mineralisation at NT project

The company, which only listed on the ASX in January after an oversubscribed A$8 million IPO, is aggressively targeting a massive expansion of its existing resource. The broader rare earths market is still being shaped by China’s supply-chain leverage, prompting Western governments to push for stockpiles and fund new projects to secure their own sources of the critical minerals. This strategic imperative has put the spotlight on magnet-heavy projects.

The renewed M&A appetite for non-China rare earth supply was recently underscored when major producer Lynas Rare Earths agreed to acquire Meteoric Resources’ ionic-clay project in Brazil for A$968M, signalling that established players are willing to pay up for quality assets, especially those with simpler, low-cost, ambient-temperature leachable deposits - a trend that could benefit emerging developers such as Barkly.

The company has drilled 71 holes for 1667m so far as part of its huge campaign. With results from another 16 holes expected in the coming weeks and more than 300 holes still to be drilled, a steady stream of news is expected for the remainder of the year. To speed things up, Barkly is now tendering for a second drill rig.

With a near-perfect hit rate from its maiden drill campaign, a massive 15km exploration gap to fill and metallurgical tests already pointing to simple, high-recovery processing, Barkly is rapidly ticking all the boxes for a major rare earths discovery. The market has backed it from the get-go and, with the West desperate for new sources of magnet metals, the question is no longer if Barkly can grow its resource, but just how big it can get.

Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: mattbirney@bullsnbears.com.au