• European Lithium unveils historical drill intercepts that returned high grades of REEs and other critical minerals
• Results highlight “compelling” opportunity to extend mineralisation with further deep infill drilling
• Assays pending from 2024 drilling with more holes to be drilled later this year

Special Report: European Lithium has unveiled historical high-grade drill intersections that underscore the potential to grow mineralisation at the giant Tanbreez rare earths project in Greenland.

The encouraging assays of historical drill core comes as the company works to delineate a maiden JORC-compliant resource at Tanbreez.

There’s plenty of anticipation for a potential mining operation at Tanbreez, which would provide the world with a valuable source of rare earths and critical minerals; commodities that many nations are currently eager to shore up for independent supply chain security.

The historical deep diamond hole DDH 7-14 was successfully angle drilled at 15 degrees east to a depth of 243m from surface in 2007 and intersected high-grade REE mineralisation averaging 4437.54ppm (0.44%) total rare earth oxides (TREO) including 28% valuable heavy rare earth oxides, 1.78% zircon oxide, 83ppm tantalum pentoxide, 1496ppm niobium pentoxide and 351ppm hafnium oxide.

Meanwhile DX-01 was drilled in 2010 to a depth of 338m within the Hill Zone, which has a maiden JORC resource of 22Mt grading 0.38% (3800ppm) TREO.

It intersected high-grade REEs and other critical minerals averaging 4209.22ppm (0.42%) TREO of which 24.45% are HREOs, 2.45% zircon oxide, 73ppm tantalum pentoxide, 1174.06ppm niobium pentoxide, 266.45ppm hafnium oxide and 103.03ppm gallium oxide.

Both holes were drilled for stratigraphic and mineralogical study with assays returning similar metal oxide results.

Adding interest, D7-14 was terminated in mineralisation and further drilling will be required to confirm the true thickness.

These results present a compelling opportunity to extend mineralisation with further deep infill drilling between both historical diamond holes and below into the existing Tanbreez Hill Zone deposit.

”It’s exciting to report on the outstanding assay results from historical deep drilling which may confirm high-grade, high-tonnage potential that extends a lot deeper than was originally expected for the Tanbreez project,” executive chairman Tony Sage said.

“After recently announcing the MRE of ~45MT of REEs @ 0.38% and other rare earth metals, the highly experienced team we have recently assembled is moving quickly to measure the true potential of the Tanbreez project that is also gaining significant interest from Western governments.

“The team is now working through more of the historical data (which contains over 400 holes and 366,000 samples) of which most have never been made public.

“Some of this data is over 22 years old, so by using modern technology to decipher the $45 million of expenditure spent by Greg Barnes, it will add significant value to Tanbreez Project’s long-term success.”

EUR has a 7.5% interest in the project while NASDAQ-listed Critical Metals Corp (CRML), which counts European Lithium (ASX:EUR) as its largest shareholder with a stake of close to 70.4%, has completed the initial investment and stage 1 interest to secure a 42% interest.

Watch: What is it about Tanbreez that has everyone talking?

Next steps

Historical pulps stored in Perth and Greenland from some of the 2007, 2010 and 2013 drill, rock chip and bulk sampling works are now being re-assayed by ALS Metallurgical Laboratory in Perth for confirmation and check assay reconciliation.

The company is also reviewing all available data from the previous owner’s database and will publish results upon third party and in house consultation.

Additionally, results are pending for the 16-hole confirmation drill program carried out in September-October 2024.

An intercept of 40m at 4722.51ppm TREO including 26.96% HREO, 1.8% zircon oxide, 130.92ppm tantalum pentoxide, 1852.22ppm niobium pentoxide, 393.68ppm hafnium oxide and 101.67ppm gallium oxide was reported from the first hole – A1-24 – in January 2025.

Subject to receiving satisfactory drill results from the 2024 program, EUR’s 2025 drill program over the Hill Zones will be extended to target depths averaging 250-300m to confirm the mineralisation intersected by historical drilling.

Further drilling will target extensions to similar depths over the strike length of 1037m and width of ~700m chasing the continuous mineralisation that may exist between drill holes DX-01 and D7-014 as well as targeting the Fjord deposit that contains the 22.56Mt resource area by extending drilling further to the north of its 16-hole drill program.The company has also engaged a third-party consultant to report on the Preliminary Economic Assessment for Tanbreez that will cover the extensive economic and historical data on hand from the previous owner and evaluate its economic potential.

This article was developed in collaboration with European Lithium, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.