Rare Earth Minerals said a significantly larger Stage 2 drilling programme has been commissioned on the Fleur - El Sauz concessions of the Sonora Lithium Project.

Detailed metallurgical test work had now commenced to assist with determining the economic parameters for a Preliminary Economic Assessment.

"The prime focus for the Joint Venture partners for the Stage 2 exploration programme on the JV Lands is to significantly expand the global lithium resource, assess the metallurgy and recovery options and provide a realistic and meaningful economic assessment of the potential commercial value of this deposit," said chairman David Lenigas in a statement.

The Stage 2 programme would comprise a series diamond drill holes totalling some 3,000 to 3,500 metres.

The drilling was designed to not only infill the known mineralisation into better defined categories under the NI 43-101 reporting standards, but also to test for extensions of the deposit, both down dip to the east and along strike to the south, as the deposit remained open in both of these directions.

Surface mapping over recent weeks had identified the further potential to extend the lithium-bearing clays by about 2km along strike to the south-east from the previously identified mineralisation and some of this potential would be tested in the upcoming drill programme.