Step-out drilling boosts Osmond Spanish rutile-rich horizons

Osmond Resources has underlined its preliminary view that it may have a mix of three different saleable mineral products on its hands at the company’s flagship Orión EU critical minerals project in southern Spain.

The company has extended the mineralised reach Orión with step-out drilling as far as 9.5 kilometres away again hitting rutile, zircon and rare earths-rich monazite, the same quartzite-rich layers that delivered some stellar high-grade results earlier in the month.

Drilling operations in progress at step out hole SOR-02, in zone one, part of Osmond Resources’ Orion EU critical minerals project in Spain.

The drill bit has now confirmed that critical metal mineralisation runs continuously across several kilometres, linking together rich zones of rutile, zircon and monazite - all key ingredients classified as “critical” under the European Union’s 2024 Critical Raw Materials Act.

Three new holes at the company’s zone one area have all hit the same mineral-packed Pochico Formation that delivered Osmond’s standout first strike drilled at the end of September.

That original hole intersected a 5-metre section from 106.5m depth and turned up a powerhouse mix of 19 per cent rutile, 6.6 per cent zircon, 1539 parts per million (ppm) hafnium and up to 1.2 per cent total rare earth oxides. And as a final curtsey to the crowd, the hole was loaded with lucrative industrial magnet metals such as neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium and terbium.

Notably, one of the new vertical holes drilled from the same spot as the earlier hit cut 3.9 metres of mineralised quartzite between 104.85 m and 108.75 m depth. The two holes ended up 27m apart at the point of intersection, showing the mineralised bed lies almost flat and continues across the area.

A second step-out hole in Zone One, drilled 1.7 kilometres to the west-southwest, struck two more quartzite bands measuring 1.9 and 2.7 metres thick at depths of 373 and 386 metres. The discovery stretches the Zone One mineralisation to a hefty 1.7 kilometres, marking a major leap forward for Osmond in revealing the true scale of the Pochico Formation.

Further out at zone three, some 9.5 kilometres northwest of the first hole, a third vertical hole intersected another 3.3m of quartzite from 132.6m to 135.9m downhole. The result pushes the known mineral corridor across almost 10 kilometres of ground, reinforcing Osmond’s view that the Pochico Formation hosts multiple, laterally continuous layers enriched in valuable heavy minerals and has the potential to host a major critical minerals deposit.

Backing up that claim, three 50-kilogram bulk samples taken in 2024 from outcropping seams in zone three delivered eye-catching grades of 28 to 31 per cent total heavy minerals (THM).

High value rutile dominated the haul at 13 to 15 per cent - making up almost half the total mix - while zircon chipped in a healthy 8.4 to 9.4 per cent. Assays also revealed an impressive hafnium credit peaking at 1,295 parts per million.

Samples from the September discovery hole and its twin are already in the hands of independent labs, with results due back within two to three weeks. Meanwhile, detailed core logging and downhole geophysics are underway to sharpen the geological picture, as samples from the latest two step-out hits line up next for testing.

Osmond says its 15-hole drilling blitz at the Orión Project is powering ahead, with two rigs doing their thing and a third about to join the action to fast-track results. The campaign is designed to nail down the continuity, thickness and grade of the mineralised layers and pave the way for a maiden resource and scoping study in the first half of 2026.

If Osmond’s hunch about the potential scale of Orión proves correct, it will end up being a critical minerals/rare earths deposit of biblical proportions – rivalled only by the scale of clay based rare earths that are often described in geographical terms as stretching from one town or city to another across hundreds of kilometres.

Throw in three potentially saleable minerals across the tenure – not just one like many other projects – and this thing is starting to look like it is going to break some records………the ultimate confirmation will of course come courtesy of the rotary truth diviner over time, but for now, a successful 9.5km step out is a damn good start to the story.

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