Lithium Australia’s decision earlier this year to farm into an historic tin mine project with Lithium potential in Germany has proved to be an inspired one.
The Perth based company this week announced a maiden resource at the project of 25 million tonnes grading 0.45% Lithium Dioxide.
The Perth-based Lithium processing specialist took an informed punt on the Sadisdorf tin mine because it is characterised by “greisens” or “altered granites” that are often known to contain abundant Lithium mica’s in the form of Zinnwaldite.
A Lithium resource had not previously been reported at Sadisdorf, however it appears that was simply because nobody was looking historically.
The opportunity seems to be a neat fit for Lithium Australia because Zinnwaldite is ideally suited to processing using Lithium Australia’s SiLeach technology according to management.
Lithium Australia announced this week that CSA Global had estimated a JORC 2012 inferred mineral resource of 25 million tonnes at 0.45% Lithium Dioxide, based on re-analysis and re-interpretation of historical drilling and underground sampling.
Lithium Australia Managing Director, Adrian Griffin, said: “Our previous testing demonstrates that SiLeach can unlock the potential of Sadisdorf as a true polymetallic operation, recovering Lithium from the residues of conventional Tin concentration processes.”
“The size of the Sadisdorf resource is already significant, with the potential to feed a 25,000 tonne per annum Lithium Carbonate plant for 10 years. Further exploration is likely to expand the resource significantly.”
“It is noteworthy that Sadisdorf has higher grades than the nearby Cinovec deposit in the Czech Republic and it is not far from the Zinnwald deposit of Deutsche Lithium GmbH. All of these deposits have similar characteristics, making them difficult, if not impossible, to commercialise using conventional Lithium processing technology – SiLeach provides the solution.”
Quantitative X-ray diffraction analysis showed quantities of Lithium-bearing Zinnwaldite mica ranging from 9%, which was the average of the outer greisen zone to 12.5% being the average of the inner greisen zone. Local values in the inner greisen zone carried up to 38% Zinnwaldite.
Preliminary SiLeach testwork on the Sadisdorf outer greisen material returned encouraging results, with Lithium leach extractions of Zinnwaldite concentrates from Sadisdorf greisen mineralisation averaging 95%.
Lithium Australia earlier this year struck a staged farm-in deal at the Sadisdorf project with Tin International, a subsidiary of German-listed Deutsche Rohstoff. The company can earn 15% by the end of 2017 by spending EUR 750,000 on exploration or by cash payment. It can increase its stake to 50% by investing a further EUR 1.25 million over the next three years.
By Matt Birney
