Brought to you by BULLS N’ BEARSMurray WardJuly 17, 2026 — 4:12pmASX-listed Barkly Rare Earths has moved from paddock prep to paydirt potential at the company’s flagship Northern Territory project. The drill rods now turning on a massive 10,000-metre campaign designed to significantly expand its existing 40-million-tonne rare earths resource.The company says drilling has now officially kicked off, with the rig, mobilised from Cobar in NSW, on-site and preparing to punch the first of 400 holes, averaging 25 metres deep.Barkly Rare Earths has officially started a 10,000-metre resource expansion drilling campaign at its flagship rare earths project in the Northern Territory.The program marks the first major field test for Barkly since it listed on the ASX in January following a heavily oversubscribed $8 million float. The company says it aims to rapidly grow the existing 40-million-tonne inferred resource, which grades at a solid 2100 parts per million (ppm) total rare earth oxide (TREO).The current resource is defined within two optimised pit shells. However, drilling between these two areas previously intersected rare earths, hinting at the potential for significant lateral expansion across an intervening 20-kilometre corridor. That largely untested area, coined the Immediate Zone, will be the focus of the new drill-out.“The drilling program provides Barkly with a strong opportunity to generate data to support future resource growth.′Barkly Rare Earths managing director Craig WrightBarkly says the campaign will begin with a series of deeper 60-metre holes drilled around its optimised pit shells to study the rock layers and provide a stronger geological framework. The rig will then move on to a pattern of reconnaissance and resource-infill drilling. The majority of the holes will be shallow, averaging just 25m deep.Barkly Resources managing director Craig Wright said: “Commencing drilling is an exciting and important milestone for Barkly as we move into active resource expansion work at our flagship Barkly project.”What makes the company’s project compelling is not just its potential scale, but the nature of its geology. The deposit is hosted in near-surface, weathered quartz sandstone, a “soft rock” setting that is typically simpler and cheaper to handle than the hard rock deposits that host many of the world’s rare earths projects.Adding to the project’s appeal is its high 34 per cent proportion of valuable magnet rare earth oxides (MREO), coupled with notably low levels of the radioactive elements uranium and thorium, which can often complicate processing, permitting and project development.The company has previously tabled a massive exploration target for the project of between 200 million and 1 billion tonnes, grading between 1600 and 1900ppm TREO. Whilst conceptual in nature, it gives a sense of the blue-sky potential management is chasing with this campaign.Barkly is also armed with two recent grants of $115,000 each awarded under the Northern Territory’s highly regarded Geophysics and Drilling Collaborations program.Whilst the rods are spinning at the company’s rare earths play, Barkly has also been advancing its secondary asset, the Buntine base metals project, east of Halls Creek. Fieldwork at Buntine is now complete, with samples submitted for assay and results expected in the current quarter.The project has previously returned some impressive historical rock chip grades, including one per cent lead, 7100ppm nickel and 1760ppm cobalt.Barkly has also locked a savvy partnering deal with fellow ASX-listed explorer DevEx Resources to advance its Murphy West project in the NT. By spending $3.5 million over five years, DevEx can earn up to a 75 per cent interest in the project’s uranium rights. This gives Barkly a free-carried exploration advantage on its own turf whilst it stays focused on its rare earths strategy.DevEx is already homing in on drill-ready uranium targets at site, using a unique geochemical recipe to pinpoint anomalies hidden beneath cover.With the drill rig rods now spinning, the company has flagged a consistent stream of news flow through the second half of the year, including further metallurgical test work and modelling and follow-up exploration at Buntine, topped off by a mineral resource update scheduled for December.With more than $7 million in cash in the bank, government backing and drills actively spinning on a potentially transformative program, Barkly has set the stage for an action-packed second half. Punters should buckle up for a steady stream of news as the explorer charges towards the festive season.Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: mattbirney@bullsnbears.com.auFrom our partners