…discovers rare earths in commercial quantities

GREENPOWER Energy, an Australian company that confirmed the existence of lithium in Guyana, is gearing up to commence phase two of its Morabisi Lithium and Tantalum Project, even as it eyes the establishment of Lithium mines here.
In April, Greenpower Energy (ASX:GPP) received results of up to 1.04% lithium from a rock chip sampling programme at its Morabisi Lithium and Tantalum Project here. The project is located within a mineral-rich greenstone belt located within the Turesi Ridge area.

On Tuesday, Greenpower Energy Executive Chairman Gerard King, AEFS Consultant to Greenpower Energy John Watts and Leandro Pires of Guyana Strategic Metals met with Minister within the Ministry of Natural Resources, Simona Broomes, at her Kingston office.
Shortly after that meeting, King told the Guyana Chronicle that results from the first phase of the project, which was conducted in March and April, 2017, showed promising results. “It not only confirmed that there is lithium in the area, but we found something that we were not even looking for – rare earths.”

In addition to Lithium, 17 different elements considered to be rare earths were discovered, many of which have commercial value.
As such, the executive chairman said the Australian company is awaiting the start of the dry season to initiate the second phase of the project – an initiative estimated to cost US$1M upon its completion at the end of the year.
“What we found was very encouraging, so what we will do is, go forward and measure the quantity,” King said.

The second phase includes an airborne geophysical survey to assist in identifying additional areas that may host pegmatites similar to the Turesi Ridge area. The lithium mineral has been provisionally identified from field inspection as a pale green variety of spodumene, hiddenite.
The assay results received to date, in addition to the identification of spodumene, confirm that the area has the potential to host a significant lithium deposit. The company has exclusive rights to earn up to a 74% interest in the project and is fully funded for all earn-in stages.

Watts said the second phase is critical. “We know the lithium is there, we know the rare earth is there in two separate areas, so we now have to quantify, so this is the next stage — the start of the quantification,” the Greenpower Energy Consultant said.
The company is hoping to initiate this phase by July. Based on its findings at the end of 2017, Watts said the company will conduct a feasibility study into the establishment of a lithium mine here.
“If everything is good at the end of the second phase, then we start looking into the feasibility studies to put either the Lithium or rare earth into production,” he said.
Watts added, “the best way is the cheapest, most economic, most socially acceptable and environmentally friendly.”

Pires has been playing a critical part in the project. He is part of the company Guyana Strategic Metals (GSM) which has been executing the project on the ground. GSM is a private Canadian company established by a group of mining professionals with significant Guyanese experience and in-country expertise.
Over the past two and a half years, GSM has undertaken a substantial amount of work in terms of identifying areas within Guyana which are prospective for lithium and tantalum (including compiling, interpreting and undertaking desktop work in relation to historical information).
In an invited comment, Minister Broomes said that Government is pleased with the progress made by the Australian company. While major attention was placed on gold and diamond in the past, the Junior Natural Resources Minister said this administration is open to developing the 40-plus elements existing in Guyana.

“As a Government we are looking at all the other minerals and sectors in this country that will develop our country…So to have a company coming forward with the findings and looking at lithium, and wants to move to other rare earth, is just pushing on an opened door, fitting into government’s policy and the direction it is moving,” she said
Like Watts, Minister Broomes believes that phase two – the quantification process – is critical to the future of the project. Greenpower Energy Limited was incorporated in 1899 as ‘Gunnedah Colliery Company’, changed to Gunnedah Coal Company (GCC) in 1985, and GCC mined coal at Gunnedah, in NSW, continuously, until 1997, when it sold the Gunnedah coal mine. In May 2007 GCC changed its name to Greenpower Energy Limited (Greenpower).