Future Battery Minerals has unveiled more high-grade lithium results from phase-two drilling at its Kangaroo Hills project in Western Australia’s Goldfields region, with headline results including 23m grading 1.19 per cent from 44m, 10m running 1.30 per cent lithium from 25m and 5.9m going 1.15 per cent lithium from surface.
Management says the results from five diamond drill holes at its Big Red prospect show a continuation of high-grade lithium from spodumene-bearing pegmatites – and there is more work to come as a diamond drill rig is mobilised to the site in the next fortnight.
Wrapping up the Phase 2 drilling program, the assay results of the diamond drilling component support the significant discovery at the Big Red Prospect within the Kangaroo Hills lithium project. The diamond drilling has been invaluable at this early stage of the project, providing the team with the ability to conduct detailed geological and mineralogy logging of the spodumene pegmatite and provide sample for metallurgical test work. Future Battery Minerals technical director Robin Cox
The Kangaroo Hills lithium project is an 80-20 joint venture (JV) between Future Battery and Lodestar Resources and sits about 17km south of Coolgardie.
The JV is already cracking on with early-stage metallurgical testwork and ongoing mineralogical assessment, with selective samples from the latest core sent to the laboratory. With a third phase of reverse-circulation (RC) drilling already underway, Future Battery is also now planning the extra wave of diamond drilling that will complement the current exploration work.
The company’s regional targets of Eastern Grey, Wallaroo and Pademelon will also receive closer inspection in the latest drilling spree, with a high priority put on the Rocky prospect that has previously tossed up a 5m intersection running 1.12 per cent lithium from 104m.
WA’s renowned Goldfields is now rapidly carving out a new reputation as a tier-one lithium province. The region also hosts the likes of Mineral Resources’ Mt Marion lithium operation, Covalent Lithium’s Mt Holland lithium mine and Global Lithium Resources’ emerging Manna lithium project.
And adding to Future Battery’s portfolio, its second phase of RC drilling last week at its Nevada project in the United States, just 45km from Albemarle’s well-known Silver Peak lithium mine, successfully intersected thick lithium-bearing claystone, pointing to potential extensions of the company’s previously-identified lithium mineralisation.
Its phase-two program follows the successful discovery of thick lithium-bearing claystone in the final hole of first-phase drilling at the Western Flats prospect in March this year. That hole delivered intersections of 109.7m at 766 parts per million lithium from 135.6m and 29m at 1010ppm lithium from a depth of 210.3m, while a further three holes at Western Flats also intersected thick high-grade lithium claystone.
The six holes sunk in the phase-two program were designed to test the prospective Siebert formation that hosts the lithium-bearing claystone unit, aiming to extend the known lithium claystone horizon intercepted during the earlier phase.
Future Battery’s work comes after some of the world’s biggest lithium producers, such as Albemarle, expressed their growing anxiety that delays in mine permitting, staffing shortages and inflation may hinder their ability to supply enough of the battery metal to meet the world’s aggressive electrification timelines outlined at a conference in Las Vegas last month.
Once a niche metal used primarily in ceramics and pharmaceuticals, lithium is now one of the world’s most in-demand metals given globe-conquering plans from Tesla, Ford and other electric vehicle manufacturers.
With the global demand for lithium only growing, Future Battery appears to be doing all it can to get its cart to an increasingly busy market.
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