Almadex sees REE potential in New Mexico pegmatites
Almadex Minerals Ltd. [DEX-TSXV] said it has staked a pegmatite dyke complex with rare earth element potential in New Mexico. The company said it has acquired by staking the area covering most of the historic Petaca district located in northern New Mexico. The area was identified as part of Almadex’s continuing regional exploration program in the western United States, which prioritizes copper-gold potential and has a focus on porphyry lithocaps and epithermal precious metal systems.
The company said the Petaca district has a long history of mica production from granitic pegmatites, which has been described in some detail by various authors in publications made from 1923 to 1974. These authors have also noted the presence of several rare earth element bearing minerals that occur in the pegmatites and were occasionally recovered as a byproduct of mica mining. A USGS report published in 2010 described the district and its potential for REE as follows:
Thorium and rare earth element bearing pegmatites are exposed in the Petaca district, located between Ojo Caliente and Tres Piedras, in Rio Arriba county, north-central New Mexico. The pegmatites crop out in Pecambrian rocks in the southeastern Tusas Mountains (Bingler 1968). The Pegmatites of the Petaca district take a variety of shapes, such as dikes, sills, pipes, pods, troughs, and irregular forms. The authors said elevated REE concentrations in Petaca district pegmatites mainly reflect the mineral samarskite, an REE iron uranium thorium niobium tantalum-bearing oxide. The REE are reportedly restricted to albite-rich zones in the pegmatites, McLemore and others (1988 p4) reported this REE analysis of a sample of the Globe pegmatite: “600 ppm Y, 660 ppm Yb, 396 ppm Er, 186 ppm Gd, 3,117 ppm (total) REE plus Y. Otherwise the REE content of the pegmatites of the Petaca district has not been published.
Academic work published in 2011 by researchers in New Mexico and at the University of New Mexico provided results of a microprobe study of Y-REE-Ta-Nv-Ti oxide minerals from the Petaca district. The study confirms the presence of samarskite (Y), polycrase (Y), and microlite and substantiated the high level of Nb and Y in accessory minerals. Also identified in the study were the minerals columbite, monazite (Ce) and Ta-rutile (struverite).
Almadex said it has not conducted any analysis of its own on the pegmatites of the Petaca district. The company remains focused on its portfolio of epithermal gold and porphyry copper-gold exploration projects and seeks a joint venture partner to explore the Petaca district. “We intend to joint venture the project to a group that has expertise with these types of mineral systems,’’ said Almadex Chairman J. Duane Poliquin.
Almadex shares were unchanged Thursday at 34 cents. The shares trade in a 52-week range of 39 cents and 15 cents.