History and Discoveries

In 2009, Search Minerals began exploring for Rare Earth Elements (REE) in Labrador near the communities of St. Lewis, Mary’s Harbour, and Port Hope Simpson by acquiring a substantial regional land position. Through systematic exploration, Search identified the 64 km long Fox Harbour volcanic belt, which contains significant quantities of REE. This belt was identified as having the potential to host numerous CREE deposits, with the potential to become a multi-generational mining district and was termed the Port Hope Simpson – St. Lewis Critical Rare Earth Element District. Foxtrot, the first major discovery in the district, was identified in 2010 through a systematic follow-up of anomalies in the 2009 airborne magnetic and radiometric survey of the region. Drilling and channelling programs at Foxtrot, from 2010 to 2015, outlined a substantial CREE resource of the magnetic REE (MagREE - Nd, Pr, Tb, Dy). 

Seasonal exploration programs since 2010 resulted in numerous CREE discoveries in the district (Table 1) including Deep Fox, Fox Meadow, Awesome Fox, and Silver Fox. Extensive drilling and channelling programs at Deep Fox, conducted throughout 2014 to 2022, indicated that Deep Fox has at least 15% higher CREE values than the Foxtrot resource. Deep Fox has emerged as Search’s leading resource, while ongoing work at the Fox Meadow, Awesome Fox, and Silver Fox discoveries has confirmed the district-scale potential.

In April 2022, an updated mineral resource estimate was completed showing promising results for a Deep Fox and Foxtrot combined resource (Table 2). A Preliminary Economic Assessment using this combined mineral resource was published in June 2022.

A geological discussion of the CREE mineralization in the Port Hope Simpson – St. Lewis District, using the Foxtrot deposit as a model, can be found in this 2015 summary paper.