Vital Metals Limited (ASX: VML) (“Vital Metals” or “the Company”) is pleased to report final overlimit assay results from grab samples collected at Nechalacho, confirming exceptional rare earth grades of up to 292,145ppm TREO.
Highlights:
F009416 (target 1029A) returned the highest TREO value recorded at Nechalacho to date (based on Company data) as follows:
29.2% TREO (292,145 ppm), including:
7.0% Nd₂O₃ (70,333 ppm); and
1.7% Pr₆O₁₁ (17,398 ppm).
NdPr oxides totalled 8.7% (87,731 ppm), representing 29.8% of TREO, highly significant as NdPr is typically the highest-value payable component within the light rare earth elements.
F009445 (R Zone target) returned 12.5% TREO (125,920 ppm), including 1.5% Dy₂O₃ (15,609 ppm) and 1.0% Gd₂O₃ (10,719 ppm), representing the highest dysprosium result at the project reported to date.
The excellent assays from the completed regional grab sample exploration program have identified 6 targets located outside of the current resource and demonstrates the significant potential at the Nechalacho Rare Earths and Niobium Project for more discoveries.
A 1000m exploration drill program is now underway at R Zone, S Zone and Cressy Ridge and is expected to be completed by mid-April 2026.
The results demonstrate significant potential to support the district scale of mineralisation across its Nechalacho Rare Earths and Niobium Project (Upper Zone, top 150m RL) located 100km southeast of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada.
Managing Director and CEO Lisa Riley said:
“These results demonstrate that Nechalacho is a large, dynamic rare earth system rather than a single deposit. Mineralisation has been identified outside the defined US$445m Tardiff Deposit underscoring a broad district-scale multi-target opportunity and supporting our strategy of expanding the resource base beyond Tardiff and North T while advancing Tardiff toward development.”
“We are executing a three-pronged approach:
1. Exploration work on the new targets, expanding the broader Nechalacho footprint.
2. Pre-Feasibility Study of the Tardiff deposit toward completion by February 2027.
3. Preparing to process stockpiles at North T to generate cash as soon as possible.”
Overview of Work Recently Conducted
As announced to the ASX on 23 February 2026, analyses from three grab samples, F009416, F009445 and F009446, were reported with overlimit values (i.e. Nd > 50,000 ppm, Dy >5,000ppm). These samples have since undergone a third round of analysis at ALS Canada, with final certified assay results reported outlined below.
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