Hudson Resources expands high grade zone at Sarfartoq rare earths project

Hudson Resources (CVE:HUD)(OTCQX:HUDRF) announced Friday results from its phase one drilling program on its Sarfartoq rare earth element project in Greenland, which it said has extended the high grade ST1 Zone at the property by at least 200 metres to the northeast.
Phase one drilling of the 2011 program comprised 4,891 metres of infill and step out drilling at the ST1 Zone, where the company has outlined an NI 43-101 compliant inferred resource of 14.1 million tonnes of 1.5% total rare earth oxides (TREO).
The company also completed an additional 3,328 metres of exploratory drilling to the northeast of ST1.
Hudson said drilling has continued to confirm high grade zones at ST1, including ten intercepts of 10 metres or more, grading from 2.5% to 4.3% TREO, averaging 3.3% TREO over 13 metres.
Highlights of the latest results included 42 metres of 2.4% TREO, including 18 metres of 3.7% TREO, in hole SAR11-17; and 34.0 metres of 2.6% TREO, including 10.0 metres of 3.3% TREO and 20.0 metres of 2.9% TREO in hole SAR11-26.
SAR11-34 also returned 24.0 metres of 2.6% TREO and 10.0 metres of 4.3% TREO.
Additionally, the company said wide zones of mineralization were intersected, including 128 metres of 1.7% TREO and 142 metres of 1.4% TREO.
"The results continue to define the ST1 Zone and confirm our belief that there are distinct high-grade zones of rare earths, which will be an important contributor to the project value going forward," said president James Tuer.
"We continue to expand the mineralization to the north and have intersected significant widths of carbonatite some 200m north-east of the previously drilled intersections."
The latest results also show the ST1 area has a high proportion of neodymium oxide to total rare earth oxides at 19%, Hudson added.
A total of eight holes were also drilled into the ST40 Zone to expand on previous drill intercepts from 2009 and 2010, confirming this area contains one of the industries highest ratios of neodymium oxide to TREO at 46%.
While the grade of the ST40 carbonatite zones are significantly lower than at ST1, the gross amount of neodymium oxide is almost equivalent to that at the ST1 Zone, which contains over 40 million kilograms of neodymium oxide, the company said.
Neodymium, a soft silvery metal, is used as a popular additive in glasses, and as a component in alloys used to make high strength neodymium magnets, a powerful permanent magnet for products like microphones, loudspeakers, in-ear headphones and computer hard disks.
Prices for the metal, which is mainly mined in China, remain robust with neodymium oxide currently quoted at over US$315/kg, and at over US$180/kg, within China.
Tuer went on to say that the ST1 deposit remains open to the north, south and at depth, leaving further room for expansion. Two rigs are on site now to ensure a quick start to drilling in the spring of 2012.
Phase two drilling, consisting of an additional 8,338 metres, has already been completed, with results now pending. In total, 16,557 metres over 71 holes were drilled this year, and a preliminary economic assessment for the project is on track for release in the next month or so.
The company said it also extracted a four tonne bulk sample from the surface of the ST1 Zone for additional metallurgical testing work over the winter.
The Sarfartoq project is located within 20 kilometres of tidewater and only 60 kilometres from Greenland's international airport.