Although having been discovered in 1801, niobium is a relative newcomer to the radar screens of ASX-focused investors.
Encounter Resources (ASX: ENR) intersected high-grade niobium at the company’s Aileron project in Western Australia in 2023 in an overlooked region of the state.
The West Arunta region of Western Australia may not be as well‑known as others, such as the Goldfields or the Pilbara; however, that could all be set to change with the region emerging as a niobium and critical minerals hub.
‘The provincial nature of what we have discovered is a potential game changer for West Arunta,’ Encounter Resources Managing Director Will Robinson told Future Mining.
‘We have now, in just a short period of time, begun to figure out the controls on this niobium mineralisation.
‘Step-out drill testing of new targets has validated our targeting work, advancing us closer to determining just how many of these carbonatites exist on our tenure.’
Encounter believes niobium will soon take its place as a significant critical mineral, providing Australia with a new commodity to supply on global markets.
Encounter’s Aileron project hosts multiple bodies of high-grade, near-surface niobium oxide mineralisation.
Exploration carried out in 2023 confirmed shallow, high-grade niobium rare earth element (REE) mineralised carbonatites at the Emily target.
2023 activities also produced discovery of large‑scale primary niobium-REE carbonatite-hosted mineralisation at the Crean target, as well as identifying carbonatite targets along strike of the earlier Luni discovery, including priority targets Green and Joyce.
Results from activity undertaken in 2024 reveal the Crean target to be developing as a coherent body of thick, high-grade niobium mineralisation.
Among others, the Green target has run past its contemporaries to emerge as a large, laterally mineralised zone with frequent high-grade niobium intercepts of over two per cent niobium pentoxide from broad-spaced aircore drilling.
With each subsequent drilling campaign, the company has expanded Aileron’s extensive footprint of carbonatites containing over two per cent niobium pentoxide drill intercepts.
An important facet of the results achieved thus far is that high-grade niobium intersections are repeatedly being encountered in wide-spaced, first-pass drilling.
Follow-up drilling to infill these intersections can then be carried out to rapidly delineate the better mineralised parts of these complexes.
Niobium has taken the lead at Aileron; however, Encounter has not taken its eye off the possible gold/copper prize that may also be present.
‘We need to demonstrate that we have a mineable, standalone quantity of near-surface, high-grade niobium mineralisation on our tenure,’ Robinson says.
‘If we can bring a second commodity into this belt – gold or copper – which is what we are targeting, it would take the entire project and province to a new level.’
