Any picture of the vast, rust-hued horizons that extend across the Pilbara provides a stark reminder of the region’s rich annals in iron ore exploration and the generational wealth that came for those insightful enough to claim it. For half a century Western Australia’s Pilbara district carried the country’s fortunes, not on the back of a sheep but rather on the back of a dump truck. Now, a new breed of explorer has emerged seeking to write their name into the storied history of this famous district and the focus is squarely on the battery metals revolution to come and the rising prospects for lithium across the region.
Australia currently leads the globe in terms of lithium production and according to Geoscience Australia about 95 per cent of Australia’s lithium resources are found within just five deposits and all are in WA. The renowned Greenbushes mine, 200km south of Perth, is the undisputed king when it comes to contained amounts of lithium and grade. The next two deposits on the leader board, Pilgangoora and Wodgina, both belong to the Pilbara, an area that is again a hotbed of exploration and discovery.
An army of explorers is now spreading out across the Pilbara in search of the next head-turning deposit. In 2020, about 100km east of Pilgangoora, ASX-listed Global Lithium Resources made its move to be the next player in the area tabling a mineral resource for its Archer deposit of 10 million tonnes going 1.0 per cent lithium oxide.
More recently a swag of explorers formed a chasing pack locking onto lithium in the emerging ‘Tambourah Lithium District’ about 70km south-east of Pilgangoora and 80km south-west of Archer.
The hotspot houses a number of ASX-listed hopefuls including Eastern Resources, Askari Metals, Trek Metals and Tambourah Metals.
In July this year, Eastern Resources reported rock chip samples going up to 2.28 per cent lithium oxide at its Trigg Hill lithium project within the district. Shortly after kicking off an initial phase of drilling in September, the company announced it had intercepted pegmatites in 30 holes of its 32-hole drilling program. Whilst it eagerly awaits the assay results, a confident Eastern Resources swiftly transitioned into a second phase drilling program at Trigg Hill.
Last month, to the south-west of Eastern Resources’ Trigg Hill, Trek encountered spodumene in rock samples with assays as high as 3.07 per cent lithium oxide.
Tambourah and Askari - both in the Tambourah Lithium District - with Accelerate Resources and Octava Minerals further to the north have also picked up the scent and arrived on the scene as the latest explorers to have staked ground in and amongst the action. In November alone, news coming from the hotspot has seen the share price of Trek Metals gallop from a base of 6 cents to a fresh high of 14.5 cents whilst Eastern Resources shares spiked from 3.4 cents to a high of 4.8 cents.
Octava Minerals just confirmed the discovery of large outcropping pegmatites in the area at its Pinnacle Well prospect within the broader Talga project, just 10kms to the north of the Acher deposit. Significantly, there has been no previous drilling for lithium at Pinnacle Well and Octava is currently clearing a path to get the first drill holes sunk into its ground where rock chips have already confirmed the presence of lithium.
Also, in November Infinity Mining wrapped up a maiden RC drill campaign at its Tambourah South lithium prospect near Marble Bar with visible lepidolite and spodumene spotted in 18 of the 21 holes sunk for a total of 1812m. In August, the company’s mapping and rock chip geochemistry identified 36 pegmatite dykes returning grades up to 2.64 per cent lithium oxide
Kairos Minerals was also in on the action, striking early success with the first hole drilled hitting pegmatites at its Lucky Sump prospect. The site seems appropriately named after five spodumene pegmatite samples grading up to 1.9 per cent lithium oxide were discovered at the end of June when earth-moving equipment was digging a sump as part of a gold drilling program at Mt York about 100km south-east of Port Hedland.
The company says the multiple spodumene pegmatites form part of a larger swarm at Mt York only 4km south of Pilgangoora.
Also, Accelerate Resources has identified numerous significant pegmatite outcrops nearby at its wholly owned East Pilbara lithium project. A total of 14 smaller pegmatite outcrops were highlighted from a maiden sampling program covering one third of the company’s Mount Creek project that forms part of the East Pilbara tenements near Marble Bar. The company has collected 88 samples at the site with assay results expected early next year.
Given lithium’s pivotal role in the electric vehicle revolution and that nearly all of Australia’s lithium is found within WA, most of the ground surrounding known hotspots has already been claimed. When it comes to the lithium potential of the Pilbara’s Tambourah district however, there is still plenty of exploration upside left on the table.
Lithium continues to make headlines with Pilbara Minerals once again fetching all-time highs for its spodumene concentrate. In its eighth auction for its 5.5 per cent spodumene concentrate product, the company received bids of US$7805 per tonne. Notably, at its first auction a little over a year ago, the company received bids of just US$1250 per tonne – highlighting a 524 per cent increase in prices during the previous 12 months. The latest price for its 5.5 per cent product equates to a staggering price of US$8575 per tonne for its premium 6.0 per cent concentrate product.
Similarly, the price of battery-grade lithium carbonate continues to rise. The price for the compound is now perched comfortably above US$80,000 per tonne coming up from just US$26,000 a year ago.
Significantly, the International Energy Agency believes demand for the battery metal by 2040 could be anywhere between 13 and 51 times higher than in 2021.
With a conga line of small-cap lithium hopefuls staking a claim in the Pilbara and looking to be the next to hit the big time, the northwest of Western Australia is one place watch.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@businessnews.com.au
By Matt Birney
