Prospech Limited is an Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) listed exploration company that focuses on critical and precious metals. Its key projects include exploring rare earth elements in Finland and copper-gold deposits in Slovakia. The flagship asset of the company is the Korsnäs Project, located in southwest Finland, which is rapidly emerging as one of the country’s most significant potential sources of critical rare earths.

Project Background

The Korsnäs mine, originally a zinc-lead mine that operated in the 19th century, has now been transformed into a potential world-class rare earth element (REE) deposit. The REEs are hosted in layered carbonatite, with minerals such as apatite (dominant) and allanite containing significant enrichment. The project area spans several kilometers along strike and remains open for expansion. Prospech has identified an initial inferred resource of 13.5 million tonnes at a grade of 1.02% total rare earth oxides (TREO), demonstrating both scale and quality. Additionally, there is a strong 23.5% neodymium-praseodymium (NdPr) enrichment ratio associated with this resource.

The Transformation from Zinc-Lead to Rare Earths

Historic drilling conducted between the 1950s and 1970s has laid the groundwork for a newly discovered REE project. While the initial drilling and prospecting focused on reviving the historic zinc-lead mine, it revealed substantial evidence of highly critical rare earth minerals.

In 2023, Prospech, through its subsidiary, acquired 100% of the project. A review of the historic drill core uncovered a 6-meter zone with 1.75% TREO. Further assays extended the mineralized zone, leading to the company’s maiden drilling program.

In addition to the hard rock deposit, there is a tailings repository on site containing an estimated 760,000 tonnes at an average of 0.64% TREO. This repository is crucial for unlocking the project’s potential, as the material is already crushed and located on the surface, ready for processing.

Standout Drill Intercepts:

• 21.5m @ 2.58% TREO
• 10.8m @ 4.37% TREO
• 20.6m @ 1.19% TREO
• 7.7m @ 3.50% TREO
• 4.0m @ 5.1% TREO

Slovakia:

Prospech is the 100% owner of exploration licenses that are prospective for base and precious metals, encompassing a variety of early-stage and more developed projects.

The most notable target is Zlatno, located south of the operational (third-party-owned) Rozalia mine. Historic drilling intercepts primarily focused on copper without systematic gold assaying. The company has not yet taken advantage of this by assaying for gold, which has shown anomalous gold values over shorter intercepts. Some key historic drill intercepts include:

• 180m at 0.31% Cu
• 164m at 0.34% Cu
• 184m at 0.29% Cu

Other targets include:

Cejkov Zemplin: Epithermal gold-silver-lead-zinc

• 4.5m at 147 g/t Ag
• 6.0m at 117 g/t Ag
• 0.5m at 1,220 g/t Ag

Hodrusa (in renewal): Epithermal gold-silver

• 1.0m @ 12.8 g/t Au and 380 g/t Ag – Bauch Prospect
• 2.0m @ 1.33 g/t Au and 96 g/t Ag – Banky Prospect
• 1.0m @ 12.35 g/t Au and 582 g/t Ag – Kopanice Prospect
• 1.0m @ 13.75 g/t Au and 19 g/t Ag – Ignac Prospect
• 3.0m @ 2.46 g/t Au and 233 g/t Ag – Schopfer Prospect
• 5.0m @ 2.93 g/t Au and 401 g/t Ag – Schopfer Prospect

Kolba:

• 4.5% Cu, 1,785 ppm Co, and 796 g/t Ag (Grab sample)

Pukanec: Low sulphidation epithermal

• 9.8 g/t Au and 478 g/t Ag (Grab sample)

Market Overview:

The market for gold, silver, and copper is strong, as metal prices are currently high. The Slovakian projects significantly contribute value to the company and its shareholders.

The REE market is more complex, as each individual element has its own pricing, with heavy REEs often being favored. With China having near-total control over the entire supply chain, Europe is scrambling for local supply that offers significant grades and long mine life. Korsnäs stands out as one of the most developed assets in the Nordics, with a growing resource and promising results not only from drilling but also in proving the metallurgical recoveries of the mining material, which is currently ongoing.

When evaluating a REE deposit, a healthy enrichment of Neodymium (Nd), Praseodymium (Pr), and Dysprosium (Dy) is crucial to unlock significant value. While Korsnäs will need to undergo a maiden pre-feasibility study to truly assess its contained value, there is considerable potential for exploration upside, paired with a site that is ready to be active once again.

Next Steps:

• A 300 kg Körsnäs REE bulk sample is in transit to CORE.
• Evaluate the extraction of REEs from the concentrate to develop a process flowsheet.
• Define the optimal flotation circuit.
• Produce approximately 30 kg of upgraded REE concentrate.
• Conduct further sampling at Zlatno to better understand its gold content.

Disclaimer

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