Multi-element explorer Aldoro Resources has significantly expanded its Windimurra lithium pegmatite footprint near Mt Magnet in Western Australia after settling a deal to acquire the Wyemandoo and Niobe tantalum-lithium projects adjacent to its Windimurra project with Meridian 120 Mining, a private West Australian resources company. Aldoro has completed due diligence and all conditions relating to the acquisition of Meridian 120 Mining’s 100 per cent interest in the two projects have been met. Aldoro will now complete settlement of the acquisition.
The company is acquiring the new Mt Magnet ground for $50,000 cash and $150,000 worth of its shares and will pay Meridian a 1% net smelter royalty.
Aldoro chairman Joshua Letcher previously said the new ground contains high grades of lithium, caesium, tantalum and tungsten.
The company said: “The highly prospective licences contain multiple lithium and tantalum areas of interest which will be the focus of the project.”
The new projects boast rock chip lithium oxide grades up to 2.6% along with up to 0.56% tantalum oxide and tungsten oxide values of up to 16.5%.
Wyemandoo, 80km southeast of Mt Magnet in WA, covers an area of 9 sq km that is contiguous to one of Aldoro’s recently granted tenements on the Narndee-Windimurra Igneous Complex.
Several lithium-bearing pegmatites have been mapped and sampled in one corner of the licence area. The Wyemandoo pegmatite swarm in particular appears to cover a large area within a northeast corridor over 10km long and up to 4km wide however the full extent is masked by young alluvium and colluvium cover. The pegmatites generally trend northeast and can strike over 1000m in length, varying from 1m to 20m in outcrop width with shallow to moderate dips, typically 30 to 60 degrees. While more than 20 pegmatite dykes have been mapped to date, of which 10 have been sampled, dozens more are yet to be mapped and sampled.
A total of 53 pegmatite rock chip samples have been collected within the project, with the highest at a notable 2.6% lithium oxide from a sample taken just inside Aldoro’s adjoining Narndee licence. These pegmatites are located only 25km north-northwest of the Youanmi lithium pegmatite field owned by Lithium Australia.
The Niobe tantalum-lithium project lies 70km northwest of Mt Magnet in WA’s Murchison province and lies within the Archean Dalgaranga greenstone belt. The project is based on a pegmatite dyke swarm hosted by a metagabbro sill and the lithium potential of this pegmatite area apparently has not yet been fully determined. High-grade tantalum ore has been mined in the past from a small open pit at the project and there are shallow high-grade drill intersections that have not yet been exploited. The mineralisation remains open at depth. According to the company, anomalous lithium values were detected in the 1980s, however the lithium potential of the area has been largely ignored since then. Interestingly, lithium minerals that have been recorded at Niobe include lepidolite, zinnwaldite and pink elbaite.
Dr Peter Hayden, executive chairman of Meridian, will join Aldoro’s technical team and will assist with unlocking the lithium potential of the combined Aldoro Windimurra lithium portfolio.
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By Matt Birney
