Key Highlights

  • The first hole into a carbonatite more than one kilometre east of Nathace Hill returned 67 metres at 1.68% total rare earth oxides from surface.
  • The discovery sits within the Tundulu project in southern Malawi.
  • Higher-grade zones within the interval include 12 metres at 2.56% TREO.
  • Magnet rare earths, including neodymium, praseodymium, terbium and dysprosium, feature in the mineralisation.

AuKing Mining (ASX:AKN) has reported a rare earths discovery at East Tundulu, a carbonatite more than one kilometre east of its main Nathace Hill target at the Tundulu project in southern Malawi. Hole 26TH015, the first to test the area, returned 67 metres at 1.68% total rare earth oxides from surface.

Within that interval were higher-grade zones, including 12 metres at 2.56% TREO from 5 metres and 2 metres at 3.53% from 25 metres. Magnet rare earth oxides, the neodymium, praseodymium, terbium and dysprosium that drive most of a rare earth project's value, made up about 17.6% of the total rare earth content across the full interval.

The hole targeted the edge of a curved magnetic low identified in an aeromagnetic survey flown in May 2026. AuKing says the feature resembles geophysical signatures linked to mineralised carbonatites at Nathace Hill, and that similar intrusions may occur elsewhere in the wider Tundulu complex.

How significant is one hole?

Managing director Paul Williams said the result required a serious question about how big the Tundulu deposit might be. That is understandable enthusiasm, but a single hole cannot define size. All intervals are downhole lengths, true widths have not been established, and no resource has been estimated.

The more measured interpretation is that East Tundulu has become a priority target. Mineralisation starting at surface would allow relatively cheap shallow follow-up drilling, which the company plans, and that drilling will show whether the zone has meaningful extent.

Deeper results at Nathace Hill

The release also covered three step-out holes in the north-east of Nathace Hill. Two were extended well beyond their planned 300 metres, to 400 and 510 metres, after logging identified repeated carbonatite intersections.

Hole 26NH023 returned 34 metres at 1.68% TREO from surface, including 6 metres at 5.33%, while 26NH032 returned 10 metres at 2.46% from 39 metres, including 2 metres at 7.50%. Hole 26NH033 delivered 32 metres at 1.43% from 52 metres and 54 metres at 1.27% from 93 metres.

The reverse circulation section of 26NH032 finished in an interval grading 2.31% TREO, and AuKing believes this gives confidence that mineralisation will continue into the deeper diamond core. That core has not yet been sampled, so the deeper continuity remains to be demonstrated.

A change in reporting

AuKing has now adopted a 0.5% TREO cut-off, with up to seven metres of internal dilution, for reporting significant intercepts, and says this approach will also be used in the maiden resource. Earlier announcements reported results without a cut-off, so some previous headline intervals are not directly comparable. That is a sensible step towards more consistent disclosure, but readers comparing releases should be aware of it.

The company has also begun reporting magnet rare earth proportions more systematically, with a high so far of 29.07% in one metre of 26NH032.

Building towards a resource

AuKing has reported results from 21 holes and more than 2,900 metres of reverse circulation drilling. It says assays correlate closely with historical holes, which could allow historical data to be used in a future estimate, and that high-grade mineralisation is consistent from near surface to depths beyond 150 metres at Nathace Hill.

About 1,500 RC samples are being analysed in Perth, and more than 1,300 metres of diamond core is being prepared or awaiting export permits from Malawian authorities. Permit timing is therefore a practical risk for the assay schedule, and any further delays could push back the planned maiden resource work.

What to watch

A steady flow of results is expected over the coming months, alongside further drilling at East Tundulu. No date has been given for the maiden resource. Diamond core results from the deep holes, and whether East Tundulu extends beyond one hole, are the key tests ahead.