After a hyperspectral survey, Askari Metals has lit up multiple lithium targets at the company’s newly acquired Myrnas Hill lithium project in WA’s Pilbara region. The targets — including one high-priority structure with a strike length of 1.2km — will be the focus of an upcoming field expedition as the company looks to get its boots on the ground as soon as possible.
In August, Askari acquired the project from ASX-listed Raiden Resources in exchange for $200,000 in cash and shares. Despite considering it an early-stage project, Askari believes exploration could be rapidly accelerated through a combination of initial desktop analysis, geophysical and hyperspectral mapping and groundwork.
After mulling over the project’s data and running a hyperspectral survey, the company believes it has confirmed the geological prospectivity of the project. Notably, several of the targets generated from the survey coincide with dyke-like features spotted in satellite images.
Askari Metals Vice President of Exploration and Geology, Johan Lambrechts said: “The Myrnas Hill project is a recent acquisition for the Company as we continue to strengthen our dominant footprint in the eastern Pilbara region, home to some of the largest and highest grade hard-rock lithium deposits in the world.”
When it comes to lithium real estate, it doesn’t get a whole lot more prime than Myrnas Hill’s location. Interestingly, Geoscience Australia says about 95 per cent of Australia’s lithium resources are found within just five deposits and all are in WA — two of them are the Pilgangoora and Wodgina mines located just 50 and 60km west of Myrnas Hill. More lithium can be found closer to home with ASX-listed Global Lithium Resources’ Archer deposit containing 10.5 million tonnes at 1 per cent lithium oxide just 30km to the south-east.
In addition, the project is adjacent to ASX-listed Kalamazoo Resources’ joint venture with world-leading lithium miner and producer Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile SA. Besides its obvious notable neighbours, Askari also interprets its project to exclusively lie within a “Goldilocks zone” for lithium-caesium-tantalum pegmatites that envelopes the Pilbara’s major lithium deposits.
Although lithium is the primary focus at Myrnas Hill, the project also contains a spread of historical gold intercepts that in Askari’s eyes demand further inspection. The previous intercepts include a 1m hit going 1.5 grams per tonne gold from 15m and 4m at 1 g/t from 68m.
One-metre intercepts going 1.24 and 1.25 g/t gold were also encountered as shallow as 7m and 8m, respectively.
For those invested in the precious yellow metal, unfortunately the price of gold is in a relative flat spot. Today, on the primary futures and options market, COMEX, gold futures contracts were changing hands for as little as US$1625 per ounce, down from a high of US$2091 on March 8.
Conversely, the price of lithium is at record levels. Yesterday, prices quoted for battery-grade lithium carbonate on the Shanghai Metals Market reached as high as US$72,000 today per tonne. Similarly last week, through Pilbara Minerals’ Battery Metal Exchange auction platform, the producer received bids equating to a price of more than US$7700 per tonne for its spodumene six per cent concentrate product.
In comparison, Pilbara Minerals’ second auction back in July last year only netted bids equivalent to a price of just US$2500 per tonne.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@businessnews.com.au
By Matt Birney
