Portuguese 
The drilling campaign at Morro do Ferro returned long intervals and high grades of rare earth oxides early on in Poços de Caldas, transforming an asset purchased just months ago into an endeavor the Government of Minas Gerais has decided to treat as a priority.
Alistair Stephens is the CEO of Power Minerals, the Australian company behind the Morro do Ferro project in the Poços de Caldas Alkaline Complex.
The purchase of the project was completed in April 2026. Five months later, the company was already announcing drilling results and an agreement with the state government.
This pace, in itself, attracts attention in mining, a sector where timelines are usually measured in years rather than quarters.
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Drill MFSR-051 intersected 116 meters at 4.78% total rare earth oxides
According to the company, drill MFSR-051 cut 116 meters at 4.78% TREO, the abbreviation used in the industry for total rare earth oxides.
The second drill, MFSR-052, intersected 137 meters at 4.31%, while the third, MFSR-053, recorded 108.55 meters at 4.15% in a continuous interval.
All three results come from the first diamond drilling campaign for the project, where a continuous cylindrical core sample is extracted from the rock for analysis.
Understanding what 4.78% TREO means changes the interpretation of the news
TREO measures how much of the rock’s weight corresponds to the set of rare earth oxides. A grade of 4.78% means that in every ton, about 48 kilograms are these oxides.
For context within the realm of rare earths, many globally discussed projects operate with percentages well below one percent in mineralized zones.
For this reason, the term used regarding Poços de Caldas is high grade. It is not mere marketing language: it represents the difference between processing large or small amounts of rock to obtain the same product.
The thickness of the interval weighs as much as the percentage
A high grade in a two-meter interval says little. The same grade sustained over more than a hundred continuous meters tells a different story about the mineralization body.
In the three reported drills, the intervals ranged from 108.55 to 137 meters in thickness, with percentages that varied little, from 4.15% to 4.78% TREO.
This combination of thickness with stable grade is the type of result that encourages a company to accelerate timelines instead of waiting for another field season.
Mineralization appears from the surface, affecting costs
According to the company, mineralization begins at the surface and occurs in bastnasite and cerianite, two minerals that host rare earths.
Surface mineralization means that a thick layer of barren rock does not need to be removed before reaching the material of interest. This layer that is removed is known as overburden in mining.
Every meter of barren material removed incurs costs for fuel, equipment, operator hours, and space to deposit it somewhere. When the ore is at the surface, much of this cost simply does not exist.
At first glance, the technical phrase regarding mineralization from the surface is, in practice, an economic insight disguised as geological information, and possibly the most underrated detail in the announcement.
On September 9, the company announced its categorization as a priority project in Minas Gerais
According to the announcement, on September 9, 2026, Power Minerals reported its agreement with the Government of Minas Gerais, placing the undertaking under the state’s priority project regime.
The executive’s statement was straightforward: “The state agreed to apply its priority project regime to our rare earth project in Poços de Caldas.”
No investment value, number of projected jobs, or mineral resource estimates were disclosed. What was made public was the classification itself.
Five months separate the mountain purchase from state priority status
In April 2026, the company concluded the acquisition. By September of the same year, with the first drilling campaign still underway, the agreement with the state government was reached.
It is hard not to notice the speed. About five months passed between signing the purchase and being treated as a priority by an entire state.
This short interval is plausibly explained by the drilling numbers, which arrived early and revealed grades that need no introduction in the industry.
The Poços de Caldas Alkaline Complex is no ordinary location
The Morro do Ferro project is located within the Poços de Caldas Alkaline Complex, a geological structure well-known in southern Minas Gerais.
Alkaline complexes are typically the type of environment where less common elements concentrate, which explains why this region frequently appears in mineral studies.
Details about the state categorization were published by the portal Minera Brasil, which reported the agreement between the company and the Government of Minas.
Diamond drilling is the method that returns the entire rock for analysis
The technique used in the campaign extracts a continuous cylinder of rock, called a core, with a diamond crown rotating at the end of the drill rod.
This core is cut in half, described meter by meter, and sent to a laboratory, which allows for precise determination of where the mineralized zone begins and ends.
This is why diamond drilling is more expensive than other drilling methods; however, it is this technique that supports numbers like the 116 meters announced in the MFSR-051.
Without this type of sample, grades and thickness would be estimates. With it, they turn into verifiable and auditable measurements by third parties within the industry’s technical standards.
Bastnasite and cerianite define the processing pathway
The two minerals mentioned by the company as hosts for the mineralization are bastnasite and cerianite. Identifying the host mineral is not a minor detail.
This is because the mineral in which the element is hosted determines the metallurgical route, or in other words, how that rock will be broken down and processed into a marketable product.
Therefore, when a company discloses the mineral along with its grade, it is delivering two pieces of information with different weights for those following the sector.
The first campaign is still underway
The three drill holes disclosed are part of the project’s first diamond drilling campaign, which is ongoing and is expected to yield new results in the coming months.
In other words, the numbers known so far are just the beginning of the database that will support any future estimates of mineral resources, which have not yet been disclosed.
However, the combination of high grade, long intervals, and exposed mineralization has already been sufficient to move the needle in the relationship with the state government.
Five months between acquiring a hill and becoming a state priority: a healthy speed or too much haste?
