After a successful $4 million capital raise, Reach Resources is set to test its Morrissey Hill lithium project with a maiden drilling program to target areas that returned high-grade lithium from rock chips.
Management says its 4500m campaign will be split between reverse-circulation (RC) and diamond drilling at its project in Western Australia’s emerging Gascoyne region.
The company says the campaign, which has now gained all the necessary approvals, will primarily target the project’s Bonzer prospect that delivered the high-grade rock chips, but may also include reconnaissance holes at its Malibu lithium prospect, the Swallowtail copper deposit and possibly further south of the Bonzer prospect, where a many outcropping pegmatites have been spied.
Back in May, Reach collected a series of rock chips from its Bonzer prospect, with a headline result of 2.3 per cent lithium, in addition to others at 1.4 per cent and 1.3 per cent. The new campaign is set to include about 2500m of RC drilling and 2000m of diamond drilling, with some eight to 10 holes plunged in each.
Reach Resources chief executive officer Jeremy Bower said: “Since acquiring our Yinnetharra projects in April we are really happy with what we have achieved over the past couple of months. Our exploration team has been methodical, using all the tools at our disposal to identify and confirm the Bonzer pegmatite field, including the numerous other pegmatites across Morrissey Hill, as both highly fractioned and lithium bearing at surface. The Bonzer prospect only represents a small portion of the potential at Morrissey Hill, but we have always said the Bonzer is a walk‐up drill target and following the outstanding rock chip results obtained at this location, it’s without a doubt our first stop.”
The company was also keen to highlight its relationship with the Yinggarda traditional owners and has underlined its commitment to avoid any areas of cultural significance with its exploration. It says it has now received the necessary Aboriginal heritage clearance to kick off its drilling.
Reach is diving into its campaign with its saddle bags freshly loaded via a successful $4 million capital raise, with the cash being immediately injected into the program. The placement saw 400 million new shares at an issue price of $0.01 per share, each with a 1:3 free attaching unlisted option, exercisable at $0.01 and expiring on August 4, 2025.
The company’s share price kicked up by 10 per cent this morning to 1.1c.
Reach’s strategic Morrissey Hill tenure sits in the heart of the Gascoyne and is immediately along strike from and within the same geological unit that hosts Delta Lithium’s Malinda lithium project. Delta is in the thick of a 90,000m drilling blitz through a pegmatite swarm at its Malinda prospect that stretches more than 1.6km of strike and extends in widths of up to 1km. It recently pulled up an impressive 33m averaging 1.9 per cent lithium oxide.
Morrissey Hill is part of Reach’s Yinnetharra project, which is also made up of Camel Hill and Wabli Creek.
The global appetite for lithium shows few signs of receding if the sale of electric vehicles (EVs) is anything to go by. Globally, Tesla delivered 889,015 cars in the first half of this year – more than Volkswagen, BMW, Mercedes-Benz Group and Porsche sold combined.
South Korean juggernaut Hyundai said it will sell 2 million EVs annually by 2030, raising its forecast from 1.87 million a year ago as demand continues. The automaker also plans to spend about $124.7 billion to boost production and make progress in areas such as hydrogen cars, EV batteries and software for future mobility.
And all those EVs need a lot lithium.
Reach’s stock went stratospheric in May and June when its surface sampling program discovered high-grade lithium and then niobium on its patch. Now it is rolling out the geological truth diviner, it will be fascinating to see if its sausage matches it sizzle.
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By Steve Kaless
