[ferro-alloys.com]Appia Energy (CSE: API) announced Monday that Phase I exploration activities have begun on the company’s high-grade rare earth element Alces Lake property in northern Saskatchewan.

Appia’s 100% owned deposit, according to the company, hosts some of the highest rare earth elements (REE) mineralization in the world, hosted within a number of surface and near surface occurrences that remain open at depth and along strike. At a 4 wt% total rare earth oxide cutoff, Alces Lake average grade is 16.65 wt% Total Rare Earth Oxides (TREO).

“Of global rare earths deposits, Alces Lake has the potential to be no. 2 in terms of grade, it’s one of the richest prospects in the world,” Tom Drivas, CEO, Appia Energy told MINING.COM.

Appia has defined 7 high-grade REE occurrences at surface within an area measuring 150 m x 100 m. Surface channel sample highlights include 22.35 wt% total rare earth oxide (TREO) over 6.21 m from the Ivan zone.

Follow-up drilling in summer 2019 intersected 16.06 wt% TREO over 15.55 m, including 49.17 wt% TREO over 3.7 m, both starting within 10 m of surface in diamond drill hole IV-19-012.

Phase I of a two-Phase summer exploration program is designed to discover additional surface and sub-surface high-grade REE occurrences.

Details for Phase I include regional ground prospecting, mapping and sampling over historic REE occurrences and along two 2 km-long trends with previously identified radiometric showings of interest; ground geophysical surveys to attempt to map the REE minerals and structural system beneath the surface in order to prioritize drill targets.

Exploration permits for Phase I have been received. Phase II of the summer exploration program is anticipated to start between late July and early August.

(Mining.com)

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