Future Battery Minerals says it has visually identified multiple new stacked spodumene-bearing pegmatites from more than 5km of holes drilled at its burgeoning Kangaroo Hills project in WA’s Goldfields region.
The company says some of its estimates from reverse-circulation (RC) cuttings at the Big Red prospect are 5m at 15 per cent spodumene from 21m, 10m at 15 per cent from 147m, 5m at 5 per cent from 37m and 4m at 20 per cent from 22m.
Diamond core at Big Red visually suggested 23m at 25 per cent spodumene from 22m and 10m at 20 per cent from 207m. Management says RC cuttings from its Rocky prospect visually suggested 10m at 20 per cent spodumene from 38m.
Buoyed by what it has seen, the company will now add 6km of RC drilling to its program to test strike and dip extensions of mineralisation at Rocky, which already boasts a previous assay of 5m at 1.12 per cent lithium oxide from 104m. Previous drilling at Big Red returned assays as high as 29m at 1.36 per cent lithium oxide from 38m, 27m at 1.32 per cent from 64m, 23m at 1.19 per cent from 44m and 19m at 1.03 per cent from 42m.
The initial geological results of the Phase 3 drilling programme are a game changer for the scale and potential tonnage of the Kangaroo Hills project. Our interpretation of the intercepted pegmatites at the Rocky Prospect illustrate a stacked system with multiple spodumene bearing pegmatites now intercepted and which remains open in all directions. The RC programme will further test the exciting nearby regional prospects at Eastern Grey, Wallaroo and Pademelon which have all intercepted pegmatites, highlighting the success of the Company’s target generative work to date. Future Battery Minerals technical director Robin Cox.
The identification of spodumene-bearing pegmatites is significant for the company as they are sourced from holes on a wide-spaced 160m-by-160m grid. It suggests the potential for tighter-spaced holes to hit pay as part of a bigger stacked system linking the Big Red and Rocky prospects.
Future Battery will tighten-up the drill spacing with the upcoming RC holes and hopes to hit “swell points” in the pegmatites with thicknesses more akin to the 29m hit at Big Red. Tighter spaced drilling will also allow the company to move towards a mineral resource estimate.
In addition to the upcoming RC holes, the company will also drill up to 1500m of diamond core to allow pegmatite geometry to be understood at a higher level and to provide metallurgical test data.
Management says results from its latest batch of drilling have materially increased the potential scale of the Kangaroo Hills project. It will put the project under the microscope using a close spaced, non-ground-disturbing resistivity survey that is scheduled to start in the next fortnight to allow targeted drilling.
In the past, resistivity has proven successful in identifying pegmatites at Big Red by imaging a resistivity anomaly correlating with pegmatites with a north-west trending strike length of more than 1km. The company says ground gravity surveys will also be expanded at Kangaroo Hills to locate imaged shallow pegmatites with no surface expression.
Future Battery will also pursue permitting and drilling at its Nevada lithium project in the United States. It consists of five key prospects through some 90 square kilometres of lithium country next to the Tesla gigafactory, among some big US lithium players.
The company says its Nevada ground is largely untested, but phase-one drilling of 2900m of RC holes in March this year proved tantalising, hitting lithium clay at its Western Flats prospect.
Drill hits included 109.7m at 766 parts per million lithium from 135.6m, including 29m at 1010ppm from 210.3m, 44.2m at 570ppm from 169.2m, including 1.5m at 1080ppm from 201.2m, 35.1m at 463ppm from 106.7m, including 9.1m at 669ppm from 108.2m, 4.6m at 448ppm from 77.7m and 6.1m at 532ppm from 153.9m.
Western Flats neighbours American Lithium’s TLC deposit, which has 2052 million tonnes at 809ppm lithium for 8.83 million tonnes lithium carbonate equivalent (measured and indicated), and American Battery Technology’s Tonopah Flats deposit with 5289 million tonnes at 561ppm lithium for 15.8 million tonnes lithium carbonate (inferred).
Management says a maiden mineral resource for its Nevada operation is planned for next year’s first quarter.
The recent drilling results at Kangaroo Hills continue the company’s momentum at the project on the back of news earlier this month when it became the full owner of the project that conveniently sits in the epicentre of WA’s mining industry, about 50km north-east of Kalgoorlie.
Future Battery is not alone in its search for lithium in the area, with neighbouring giant Mineral Resources operating a mine 30km to the east of Kangaroo Hills at Mount Marion, which boasts an impressive mineral resource of 60.5 million tonnes at 1.36 per cent lithium oxide.
Another neighbour, Widgie Nickel, is sitting on shallow 481,000 tonnes at 0.59 per cent lithium oxide at its Faraday deposit, with a high-grade core of 106,000 tonnes at 0.87 per cent lithium oxide, about 50km to the south-east. Alliance Mineral Assets has about 26.5 million tonnes at 1 per cent lithium, about 100km south-east of Kangaroo Hills.
Now it just remains to be seen just how big Kangaroo Hills may jump.
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