Mount Ridley finds scandium beyond Grass Patch resource boundaries

Mount Ridley Mines (ASX: MRD) has reported new scandium mineralisation outside the existing Mineral Resource boundaries at Grass Patch in Western Australia. The results come from the company’s Phase 2 re-assay program and were outlined in an ASX announcement dated 23 September 2026.

Mount Ridley says the Phase 2 program identified scandium mineralisation beyond the recently expanded Block 1 and Block 2 Mineral Resource boundaries. The company reports mineralised intersections as far as approximately 8km beyond the current boundaries in some directions.

That finding is the central development in the announcement. It indicates that the known scandium-bearing footprint may extend beyond the areas already included in the Block 1 and Block 2 resources. However, the reported extensions remain exploration results rather than a revised resource estimate.

The announcement highlights 22m at 119.41ppm Sc₂O₃ from 12m in MRAC1036 and 40m at 102.09ppm Sc₂O₃ from 18m in MRAC1040. It also reports 13m at 124.6ppm Sc₂O₃ from 16m in MRAC1052, and 19m at 113.38ppm Sc₂O₃ from 20m in MRDD034.

These results are selected drill intersections, not average grades for a new resource. Several of the highlighted holes ended in mineralisation, which means the reported intervals did not necessarily define the full extent of mineralisation in those holes.

The interval results provide evidence of scandium mineralisation outside the current boundaries, but they do not, by themselves, establish the size, continuity or final grade profile of an expanded resource. Those characteristics will depend on further modelling, drilling and evaluation.

Mount Ridley compares the new results with existing Block 1 and Block 2 resource grades of 77.3ppm and 74.7ppm Sc₂O₃, respectively. The selected intersections highlighted in the announcement are above those existing resource grades, although the company has not presented them as a replacement for the established resource figures.

Scandium mineralisation overlaps parts of the broader rare earth and gallium system at Grass Patch. The reported extensions are not yet incorporated into a revised Mineral Resource Estimate, so the existing resource remains the relevant disclosed estimate for the project.

The existing Grass Patch Inferred scandium resource remains 946Mt at 50.1ppm scandium, containing 47,357 tonnes of scandium metal, according to the announcement. That resource figure is separate from the selected drill intersections and should not be combined with them as though the new results had already been added.

Mount Ridley plans to incorporate the Phase 2 results into resource modelling and is targeting a future update. The company also indicates that the work could support efforts toward higher resource confidence, subject to the outcome of the modelling and evaluation.

A further 2,800 Phase 3 re-assay pulps were delivered to the laboratory on 21 September. The additional program is intended to provide more information for the ongoing assessment of the Grass Patch scandium system.

The announcement does not guarantee either a resource increase or an upgrade to the Indicated category. Mount Ridley states that additional modelling, drilling and evaluation are required before those outcomes can be assessed.

For retail investors, the distinction between exploration results and a resource update is important. The Phase 2 data expand the area in which scandium mineralisation has been identified, but they do not yet change the disclosed Mineral Resource Estimate.

The immediate market insight is therefore centred on the potential scale of the mineralised footprint and the company’s next technical steps. The key workstreams are resource modelling, the interpretation of the Phase 3 re-assay results, and any further drilling or evaluation needed to test continuity and confidence.

Until that work is completed, the existing 946Mt Inferred resource at 50.1ppm scandium remains the stated Grass Patch resource, while the Phase 2 intersections remain selected exploration results beyond the current Block 1 and Block 2 boundaries.