by Mike Fagan
Defense Metals (TSX-V: DEFN)(OTC: DFMTF) — currently trading around C$0.28 per share — has announced a minimum 2,000 meter summer drill program at its flagship Wicheeda Rare Earth Element (REE) project, British Columbia, Canada.
The program is a follow-up to 2019 drilling at Wicheeda, which comprised 2,000 meters across 13 diamond drill holes with highlight intercepts up to 4.43% LREO (Light Rare Earth Elements) over 83 meters.
The current 2,000 to 5,000 meter program will focus on expanding the known deposit — 4.9 million tonnes Indicated at 3.02% LREO plus 12.1 million tonnes Inferred at 2.90% LREO — while further delineating existing resources within the central and northwestern areas of the deposit.
Defense Metals CEO, Craig Taylor, commented via
press release:
"Defense Metals is pleased to announce its plans to complete further resource expansion and delineation diamond drilling at Wicheeda. Building on the success of our 2019 drill program we see a way forward to expanding the deposit northward, which has the potential to provide additional near surface resources, and to further delineation of existing inferred resources."
The Wicheeda project hosts neodymium and praseodymium (NdPr), which are critical elements in the production of lightweight, ultra-high-strength magnets for use in EVs, missiles, military jets, satellites, and numerous clean energy technologies.
With China controlling around 80% of global rare earths production, the Wicheeda project holds elevated importance as a potential future source of REEs in a safe Tier-1 jurisdiction. In fact, the Mountain Pass project in southern California is currently the only producing rare earths mine in all of North America.
The Defense Metals team has made great strides the last few years in derisking the Wicheeda project, which you can read more about in our
feature report which includes an exclusive, in-depth interview with CEO Craig Taylor.
Defense Metals — at a current market cap of ~C$18 million — offers speculators exposure to the junior rare earths sector by way of an exceptionally well-run company with an exciting, early-stage REE project with an active drill campaign.
As always, we’ll be bringing you results from this year’s drilling as assays are released.
Yours in profits,
Mike Fagan
Editor,
Resource Stock Digest
Mike Fagan has mining in his blood. As a teenager he staked countless gold and silver properties in Nevada alongside his dad, Brian Fagan, who created the Prospect Generator model that’s still widely used today in the resource space. One of those staking projects was put into production by a major Canadian mining company — a truly rare and profitable experience. That background uniquely qualifies him as a mining stock speculator. One of the most well-known names in the business, Mike is now putting that experience to use for the benefit of Resource Stock Digest and Hard Asset Digest readers.