West Perth-based AusAmerican Mining has announced it has made a potentially large rare earth discovery in the US state of Arizona.
West Perth-based AusAmerican Mining has announced it has made a potentially large rare earth discovery in the US state of Arizona.
In a statement to the Australian Securities Exchange the US-focused explorer said samples assayed show elevated values of lithium, niobium, cesium and tantalum specialist metals in pegmatite mineralisation as well as cerium and lanthanum rare earth elements.
AusAmerican said it has staked seven lode claims comprising over 140 acres.
"An application for an exploration permit has been submitted to the State of Arizona for an additional 539 acres," the statement said.
"It is our intention to commence an exploration programme on this project as soon as possible with a view to drill testing the project in the near future."
See company statement below:
Australian-American Mining Corporation N.L. (ASX: AIW; OTC: MNOMY; FWB: M2H) ("AusAmerican" or "the company") is pleased to provided an update on activities on the sampling at one of the Company's assets in the US state of Arizona. The Company's wholly-owned subsidiary, Uranium Company of Arizona ("UCA"), has staked seven contiguous lode claims, comprising 140 acres, within the area of interest shown on Figure 1. An application for an exploration permit has been submitted to the State of Arizona for an additional 539 acres.
The company has recently launched a preliminary evaluation of the Lithium-enriched Pegmatites of the White Picacho area in Maricopa and Yavapai Counties, Arizona.
This involved spending several days collecting and examining pegmatite samples from central Arizona. These pegmatites have been known for several decades and in the 1950s several were mined for feldspar. One or two were also mined for lithium minerals or tantalum. These samples were sent to a local laboratory for assaying. The assays for the main metals/elements occurrences are shown below.
Certain trace specialist metals, which have considerable economic potential, are enriched in the sampled pegmatites. These elements include Lithium, Tantalum, Cesium and Niobium.
Tantalum:
The Tantalum is frequently present in concentrations of greater than 100 ppm, and disseminated metallic grains in some pegmatite's are most likely the mineral Columbite-Tantalite. In the Lower Jumbo Pegmatite there were analyses of 0.02% to 0.42% Ta. This represents 0.4 lbs to 8.4 lbs per ton of tantalum (Tantalum was last trading at $39.50/ lb).
Lithium:
The presence of Lithium is evident from the large spodumene crystals in some pegmatites, reaching concentrations of up to 2.11% (Li) of the metal in the Sunrise and Lower Jumbo Pegmatites. Lesser anomalous amounts are found in other pegmatites in the vicinity.
Economic potential of the lithium-bearing pegmatites now controlled by UCA will depend upon the contents of lithium, tantalum, cesium and other trace metals. Initial sampling of several pegmatites has established the presence of valuable metals in concentrations that are economically significant. Australian companies, Talison Lithium, Reed Resources and Galaxy Resources have shown that pegmatite's can be profitably developed for spodumene concentrate production (which is further refined to Lithium Carbonate).
By way of comparison, Greenacres, the world famous lithium and tantalum mine formally owned by Sons of Gwalia and now owned by Talison Lithium, has lithium in spodumene in pegmatites similar to what we have observed at our project from the sampling of the outcrop. The head grade at Greenbush's is reported as being 3% Li2O. Our assays are reporting Li metal and the conversion to Li2O is 2.15 times so some of our better samples have returned results of 4.5% Li2O.
Cesium:
The Cesium is interesting as concentrations of up to 457 ppm occur in the Lower Jumbo Pegmatite. Cesium may be contained in the mineral pollucite, but petrographic studies will be needed to confirm that association. The main use of Cesium is in the high value Cesium Formate used as a drilling fluid in the oil & gas industry.
Going forward:
The lithium-bearing pegmatites of the White Picacho area offer potential for small to medium tonnage open-pittable ores. The realization of that potential will depend upon more detailed mapping and sampling, trenching and/or drilling, and metallurgical testing if the volume of mineralized material can support mining. It is our intention to commence an exploration programme on this project as soon as possible with a view to drill testing the project in the near future. Preliminary estimates on tonnage for several of the neighbouring White Picacho Pegmatites is based upon detailed mapping and drilling done in the 1940'- 1950's, and indicate that each may contain more than 100,000 tons of material. Many of the pegmatites have not yet been closed off by drilling.
