Battery metal explorer Askari Metals has kicked off a project-wide lithium exploration campaign at its Yarrie project in Western Australia’s East Pilbara region.
The program is designed to field test high-priority zones including a major target area measuring 32km by 13km. The company will start by mapping in addition to collecting stream sediment and rock chip samples.
Management says the stream sediments will paint a picture of the prospectivity over a large area and the rock chips will determine the potential in a more localised manner.
Both methods will be analysed with multi-element assays and scrutinised for various pathfinder element signatures.
By using high-definition satellite imagery calibrated with known lithium mineralisation to the south, the explorer has already identified several areas of potential outcropping pegmatites.
Askari expects the field program will run for two weeks and aims to identify anomalism where further systematic exploration can begin.
The Yarrie project covers more than 1711 square kilometres in an emerging province where lithium exploration is only relatively recent.
Most notably, about 80km to the east, the region hosts the world-class Pilgangoora deposit owned by ASX-listed Pilbara Minerals and the Wodgina deposits held by a joint venture between juggernauts Mineral Resources and global chemical company Albemarle.
Closer to home and just over Askari’s south-eastern fence, Kalamazoo Resources is exploring for lithium with its joint venture partner Chilean-based SQM Lithium – one of the world’s largest producers of lithium hydroxide and carbonate.
To further underline the region’s potential, Askari points 30km south to Global Lithium Resources’ Archer deposit, standing tall at 10.5 million tonnes at 1.0 per cent lithium oxide.
When it landed on the ASX boards in July 2021, Askari was carrying a portfolio of copper and gold projects across Australia.
Realising there would be no decarbonisation without copper, the company saw copper as the new oil.
Interestingly, copper has the physical properties necessary to transform and transmit energy from clean sources – such as solar and wind farms– to its myriad final applications, including turning the wheels of an electric car to heating a suburban home.
A 2021 report from prominent banking house Goldman Sachs estimates by 2030 copper demand resulting from the clean-energy transition could grow as much as ninefold depending on the adoption of green technologies.
In addition to its copper ventures, the explorer thought to stack its portfolio with arguably the hottest battery metal of them all – lithium.
The forecast for lithium is as exciting as copper’s, with the International Energy Agency suggesting by 2040 lithium demand may be 13 or 51 times higher than today’s levels depending on how other technologies penetrate the market.
Naturally, in keeping with its battery metal theme, Askari pegged its Red Peak and Yarrie lithium projects in Western Australia and acquired the Barrow Creek lithium project in the Northern Territory – all throughout the second half of 2021.
A 2021 International Energy Agency report suggests if the world achieves its net zero by 2050, then the cumulative market opportunity for manufacturers of wind turbines, solar panels, lithium-ion batteries, electrolysers and fuel cells amounts to a whopping US$27 trillion.
In addition, the Agency says the sum would be larger than today’s oil industry and its associated revenues.
Upon hearing such substantial numbers, it is no wonder analysts are offering far-reaching and wide forecasts.
Whilst the fight for dominance among the battery metals is still yet to play out, one thing is certain: many, many truckloads of minerals and then some will be required to reach net zero.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@businessnews.com.au
By Matt Birney
