Key points
- Pacific Rare Earths, Chatham Rock Phosphate’s wholly owned Australian subsidiary trading as Avenir Makatea Pty. Ltd., made the application.
- Exploration licence EPM28676 covers 19.6 square kilometres in the Richmond-Hughenden region of north Queensland, nominating selenium as the target.
- The company already holds EPM28606 at Tambo, the other recognized selenium hotspot in Australia, covering 196 square kilometres.
- The exploration program will commence with soil sampling to identify drill sites.
Chatham Rock Phosphate Ltd.’s selenium prospects have taken another great step forward with the grant of exploration area EPM 28676 in Queensland.
Exploration area EPM28676, near Hughenden in northern Queensland, with outcropping beds of the seleniferous Toolebuc formation limestones, is one of only two recognized hotspots in Australia for highly seleniferous soils. The other hotspot is at Tambo where the company already holds EPM28606 covering 196 square kilometres.
Exploration licence EMP28676 covers an area of 19.6 square kilometres in the Richmond-Hughenden region of north Queensland nominating selenium as the target.
This area, located on the local grazing/farming property of Gunnerside station, is transected by the Flinders Highway and the Townsville — Mt. Isa rail line and is well served by local infrastructure in the town of Hughenden 20 kilometres east of the area.
The shallow dipping and outcropping beds of Toolebuc limestone are up to 20 metres thick.
There is extensive existing geological data to the north and west of the company’s EMP28676, mostly from current and past vanadium exploration.
The exploration program will commence with soil sampling to identify drill sites.
The inclusion of selenium in the Queensland government schedule of New Economy Minerals (NEM) recognizes the significance of the mineral to the state. Selenium is to be found in its inorganic state as in the seleniferous Toolebuc formation and in the organic state in certain plants.
The company has an interest in both forms, both inorganic and organic since selenium has application in new technologies as well as in fertilizers and supplements for livestock in selenium deficient areas of Australia and New Zealand.
Pacific Rare Earths
Chatham’s wholly owned Australian subsidiary, Avenir Makatea Pty. Ltd., trading as Pacific Rare Earths, made the application.
Pacific Rare Earths Ltd. (PRE) is the umbrella company for the company’s existing rare-earth elements projects at Korella North and Korella South in Queensland, the Chatham Rise project offshore New Zealand, and the selenium projects at Tambo and Gunnerside (Hughenden).
