Askari bags high-grade lithium samples

After an initial phase of reconnaissance, Askari Metals has uncovered high-grade spodumene-hosted lithium within extensive pegmatites at the company’s recently acquired Uis lithium, tantalum and tin project in Namibia, Africa. Results up to 2.1 per cent lithium oxide were returned from 196 rock chip samples collected as part of the company’s due diligence evaluation of the advanced project.

The samples were collected over a large number of exposed pegmatites including several old mine workings where historical mining for tin and semi-precious stones occurred.

High-grade tin, tantalum and rubidium results including grades of up to 1.3 per cent tin, 685 parts per million tantalum and 4214ppm rubidium were also returned from surface. The company says its haul of anomalous results is hosted within dominant spodumene-rich ‘LCT-type’ pegmatites - a finding that has inspired the explorer to kick off an initial phase of drilling within the next five days.

The company has signed a contract for 10,000m of drilling with an initial phase of 3000m.

Askari Metals Vice President of Exploration and Geology, Johan Lambrechts said: “Our initial reconnaissance exploration program has validated the field observations and confirmed the high-grade nature of the LCT-type pegmatites at the Uis Project. We have encountered numerous historical mine workings with an abundance of altered/weathered spodumene and lepidolite mineralisation at surface. The grades are high and the workings in many cases are extensive offering immediate drilling targets.”

Interestingly, lithium is a ‘mobile element’ meaning it is seldom found at the surface in its original state and grade. A more accurate reading of lithium content is typically found below the weathered zone and within fresh rocks. With this in mind, the company is particularly excited by the grades returned from the lab with 24 samples in the 196 grading above 0.22 per cent lithium oxide.

The advanced project is situated within 2.5km of an operating battery metals mine with a mineral resource of 71.54 million tonnes grading 0.63 per cent lithium oxide, 0.134 per cent tin and 85ppm tantalum. The company believes it has locked onto proven strike extensions of the same mineralised lithologies as the mine next door. Several areas within the project exhibiting the same geology remain untested, leaving the door ajar for further exploration upside.

Prices for lithium carbonate appear to be comfortably sitting above US$80,000 per tonne this week, up from just US$26,000 in November last year. Whether the upward trajectory is going to continue is still a topic of heated debate, however one thing is for sure - if an electric vehicle fleet is going to drive us to net zero then we are going to need a lot more lithium.

Notably, the International Energy Agency believes demand for the battery metal by 2040 could be anywhere between 13 and 51 times higher than in 2021.

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