Pan Asia Metals (ASX: PAM) has significantly increased the size of its KT East lithium prospect by a whopping 280 per cent, widening the company’s broader RK lithium project footprint on the southern coast of Thailand.
Management says recent fieldwork has expanded the known anomalous zone to now cover an area of almost 2.1km in length and 1km in width, making it bigger than the combined size of both its RK and BT lithium prospects. According to the company, new soil and rock geochemistry results have confirmed and improved its earlier findings, which with mapped pegmatites –some as wide as 20m – has improved the potential for the KT East area to support open-pit mining operations.
The Pan Asia exploration team took 747 soil samples along the main north-south trend using a 100m-by-25m spaced grid pattern. The 2kg samples were taken from “C” horizon soils some 20cm to 50cm below surface, typified by weathered rock, and then analysed using a hand-held portable x-ray fluorescence (pXRF) reader in a search for lithium pathfinder elements such as rubidium.
Rock-chip samples were randomly collected from mostly weathered outcropping pegmatites with varying degrees of lepidolite and white mica and again tested using an pXRF reader.
From a strategic point of view, KT East is not only important because of its enlarged size, but also for its proximity to historic tin mining operations in the north-west area of the region. The northern extension of the zone lies underneath tin-worked alluvium and old mine dumps that contain lepidolite pegmatite cobbles and remains open beyond the tenement’s northern boundary.
The Main Zone, which hosts multiple lepidolite pegmatite lenses, covers nearly 1.5km in length and 500m in width, with individual widths of up to 20m. The lenses are stacked and dip north-west, making them suitable for open-pit mining.
Additional zones, found west to north-west of the Main Zone using rock-chip sampling, were found to be anomalous and will be followed up with further sampling by the company.
PAM’s field team will continue with the grid-based soil and rock-chip sampling and geological mapping program, chasing down several areas which remain open to the north-west of the Main Zone and where there is a considerable area of historical tin mine workings. As previously stated, there are several walk-up drill targets and the team will continue to investigate other drill sites, with drilling expected to start later this year
Pan Asia Metals Managing Director Paul Lock
Management is optimistic about the RK lithium project’s competitive edge, likening it to Chinese lepidolite projects that have outperformed many hard rock lithium developments. It cites a favourable cost environment, both in capital and operating expenses, in addition to strategic proximity to key markets for inputs and end products.
A prime example of where savings might be made is the project’s proximity to limestone, which Australian lithium processors currently import from Thailand at significant cost.
The company has now identified preliminary drill sites, with drilling expected to start later in the year. It is also looking at some additional trenching and reconnaissance sampling in the north-western areas below the historic tin mining sites.
As Pan Asia continues to push forward with its lithium exploration program in Thailand and work at its promising Chilean copper prospect starts to ramp up, it is likely to keep the attention of punters with a raft of updates on both projects in the next 12 to 18 months.
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