Aurumin fires up rig in search of WA lithium

Mineral explorer Aurumin Limited is going after lithium-bearing pegmatites with the drill bit at its wholly-owned Mt Palmer project in Western Australia.

The ongoing program will drill up to 2500m of RC holes and is expected to take about one week with assays to be fast tracked.

Aurumin has firmed up its targets with a series of soil samples revealing anomalous geochemistry coinciding with historically intercepted pegmatites. Importantly, the pegmatites were never assayed for lithium.

The explorer has lined up two targets at its Vickers Find South prospect.

Notably, the eastern target displays the most intense geochemical anomaly and comes with a 53m pegmatite intersection. The western target features a 43m pegmatite zone and smeared anomalism.

Interestingly, 65km to the south lies the Earl Grey lithium deposit, standing tall at a whopping 189 million tonnes grading 1.5 per cent lithium oxide.

According to Aurumin, Mt Palmer and Earl Grey are both within the Southern Cross-Forrestania greenstone belt and curiously are located nearby significant gold deposits.

Traditionally, Mt Palmer is a gold project, reportedly having produced about 158,000 ounces at a respectable grade of 15.0 grams per tonne until its closure in 1944.

Whilst gold was the initial focus, given the rising for demand all commodities ­– particularly battery metals – it would appear wise to pursue any low-hanging lithium.

Of all the components in an electric vehicle’s lithium-ion battery, it’s no surprise that lithium is forecast as a major bottleneck.

Concerning the outlook of the hotly-demanded metal, last week Tesla Chief Executive Officer, Elon Musk said: “I’d certainly encourage entrepreneurs out there who are looking for opportunities to get into the lithium business.”

Benchmark Mineral Intelligence compiled lithium prices into an index and found the indicator to have surged a staggering 280 per cent in 2021 and a further 127 per cent in the first quarter of 2022.

The US Geological Survey estimates the world has 22 million tons of lithium in reserves with global production at about 100,000 tons in 2021 up from 82,500 tons in 2020.

In terms of where it comes from, the survey says four mineral operations in Australia, two brine operations across Argentina and Chile and China’s couple of brine and one mineral operation account for the majority of world lithium production.

Interestingly, the survey pegs Australia as the lead producer in 2021 with 55,000 tons, however our country’s reserve of 5.7 million tons is bested only by Chile’s 9.2Mt.

Whilst significant time is required to start producing lithium from the cradle, the roll toward global electrification is showing no signs of slowing down.

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