Lycaon Resources has won a tenement ballot for a highly-prospective new lithium and copper project Western Australia’s Pilbara region.
The tenement, in addition to four other applications, lies adjacent to the Marble Bar and DOM’s Hill projects that are held in a joint venture (JV) by Kali Metals and lithium major Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile (SQM).
The company says hunting for lithium will be at the forefront of its exploration programs, despite the ground also featuring the Myrnas Hill copper-gold prospect that has previously unveiled some dramatic copper rock chip results.
Lycaon’s new Myrnas Hill project is on the Archean greenstones of the Pilbara craton – host to the many of the world’s top major lithium hard rock mines. Management describes the area as “land of the lithium giants”, where SQM has already spent about $2.5 million on the Kali ground as part of its bid to earn the rights to 70 per cent of that company’s project by funding $12 million in exploration costs in four years.
SQM also recently splashed its cash in a corporate takeover of Pilbara upstart Azure Metals. The lithium explorer was officially acquired in May by joint bidders SQM and Hancock Prospecting for a massive $1.7 billion.
Azure notably ran from 30c to $3.70 last year after intersecting several discovery holes that went more than 100m thick in lithium-bearing pegmatites, returning impressive grades easily exceeding 1 per cent lithium oxide.
The new tenement also covers the historic copper-gold prospect, Myrnas Hill, which has returned decent rock chip grades up to 42.8 per cent and 7.05 per cent copper and 6.49 grams per tonne gold. Lycaon plans to undertake a detailed geological review to evaluate potential exploration work programs to be scheduled upon the new tenement grant.
Lycaon Resources technical director Tom Langley said: “We are extremely pleased with securing this highly-prospective tenement adjacent to projects held by Kali Metals and SQM. This area of the Pilbara truly is the land of the lithium giants.”
The company is eagerly awaiting upcoming heritage surveys at its flagship Stansmore project in WA’s West Arunta region. The surveys will focus on priority drill sites, ground-based gravity geophysical surveys and proposed access tracks to the project that will allow Lycaon to edge closer to the all-important drill-testing of its potentially massive carbonatite targets.
The West Arunta is emerging as one of the last frontiers for major critical mineral and iron oxide-copper-gold (IOCG) discoveries in Australia.
Recent discoveries by WA1 Resources and Encounter Resources have demonstrated the potential for the West Arunta region to host significant niobium and rare earths mineral systems. WA1’s share price recently went ballistic on the back of the company’s niobium carbonatite discoveries, running from just 14c to more than $18.
Lycaon has two targets at the project.
Stansmore is a traditional carbonatite target with a prominent 700m-long oval magnetic anomaly similar to both Encounter and WA1’s discoveries just 90km to the south. And its Volt target is a bigger magnetic anomaly about 3km in width.
Lycaon has its sights set on sinking five drillholes to test a magnetic gradient in the anomalies identified in a recent aeromagnetic survey.
With a promising new project prospective for lithium next to a large SQM earn-in JV, Lycaon is hopeful its project can also trigger the interest of the Chilean giant or similar investment ahead of its upcoming exploration activities focussed on the booming West Arunta.
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By Andrew Todd
