Lithium Australia’s penchant to get ahead and stay ahead of the pack that is feverishly hunting for lithium in W.A. keeps paying off for the ASX listed lithium expert.
This time the company has zeroed in on what looks to be more valuable lithium mineralised ground on land that it pegged back in 2016.
The company has discovered a new suite of spodumene-bearing pegmatites returning seriously high lithium oxide grades of up to 7.15% at its Medcalf prospect, located within the larger Lake Johnston lithium project, 460km east of Perth in Western Australia.
In a nod to “old school” geological exploration practise, the company identified the pegmatites from interpretation of aerial photography last year, in a poorly accessible area, 45km southeast of the main Mt Day lithium prospect area.
Ground reconnaissance of the Medcalf prospect in April confirmed a series of pegmatites covering a zone of 250 metres wide by 500 metres long.
The rocky outcrops of individual pegmatites range from 2m to 10m in width and 50m to 150m in strike, with true widths closer to 5m according to the company.
The deposits dip below the surface, opening up the possibility of further “blind” pegmatites at Medcalf and hence the potential for significant tonnages of lithium mineralisation.
This region of W.A.’s Yilgarn Craton is blessed with the type of high-grade, large tonnage, lithium-cesium-tantalum bearing pegmatites now being sought after worldwide, to quench the market’s insatiable needs in the battery minerals sector.
Kidman Resources’ Earl Grey lithium deposit, Galaxy’s Mt Cattlin mine and the Mt Marion lithium mine, developed by Neometals, all lie within a 200km radius of Lithium Australia’s prospective looking Lake Johnston lithium project.
Managing Director of Lithium Australia, Adrian Griffin, said: “The occurrence of LCT pegmatites adjacent to granites at Medcalf has regional geological significance. The pegmatites occur in the same greenstone sequence that abuts the same granite complex at Lithium Australia’s Mt Day prospect, 45 km to the north-east.”
“Both locations have significant lithium mineralisation and there is good potential for locating further LCT pegmatites below cover, within the Lake Johnston Project area.”
Lithium Australia has already identified pegmatites and lithium-rich mineralisation at the nearby Mt Day project, with sampling undertaken in 2016, returning high-grade rock chip samples up to 3.94% lithium oxide.
The area has had no significant historical exploration for lithium mineralisation, due to its remoteness and this offers the company significant scope for further discoveries in the region.
Lithium Australia describes the new results as promising, requiring follow-up detailed reconnaissance geological mapping and sampling, with a soils program also in the mix.
Lithium Australia’s early acquisition of multiple projects where greenstones meet granites may well prove to be fortuitous for the Perth based lithium explorer as more and more evidence emerges of lithium occurrences at these addresses.
By Matt Birney
