Defense Metals Corp. provided an update for its ongoing diamond drilling at its Wicheeda Rare Earth Element (REE) deposit. The 2022 resource infill and exploration diamond drill campaign is now complete and pit slope geotechnical drilling underway.

A total of 12 diamond drill holes totalling over 3,500 metres have been drilled to date within the northern and central areas of the Wicheeda REE Deposit preliminary economic assessment (PEA) mine plan ultimate pit area, with initial assays results from the earliest drill holes expected during September or October 2022. All materials, instrumentation, and technical personnel have now been mobilized to site to commence geotechnical drilling for the purpose of open pit slope design optimization. A total of 5 geotechnical drill holes targeting the north, west, south, and east high walls of the Wicheeda PEA mine plan ultimate pit are planned.

Data collection will include oriented drill core, field point load and laboratory-based intact rock and discontinuity strength testing, vibrating wire piezometer, and standpipe piezometer installation for hydrogeological investigations.