Reach Resources has sprung back into drilling action at its Morrissey Hill lithium project in Western Australia’s emerging Gascoyne region to double down on the area’s pegmatite potential following phase-one drill results.
The company has kicked off a 9000m reverse-circulation (RC) program designed to test the extension of multiple thick, stacked lithium-bearing pegmatites that were identified at its Bonzer prospect during phase-one drilling, in addition to six of 50 undrilled pegmatite targets mapped during fieldwork.
Assays from Reach’s maiden 4500m drilling program unveiled multiple stacked pegmatites intersected by every hole, with thicknesses of up to 30m. Geochemical results confirmed the holes hit a halo of lower-grade lithium mineralisation in a 500m central section the Bonzer deposit, which stretches for about 2km of strike and down to about 400m.
Management says the key technical takeaway from those assays is that the Bonzer geochemical signature confirms the pegmatites intersected are highly-fractionated. When the geochemistry from samples was plotted on magnesium-lithium ratio charts, known as an established method for indicating pegmatite fractionation, several sat within the spodumene-bearing pegmatite zone.
Reach Resources chief executive officer Jeremy Bower said: “It’s great to get our phase-two drill program underway to chase the mineralisation discovered at the Bonzer Prospect and interrogate some of the other priority pegmatite targets identified on site to assess the potential of Morrissey Hill over a larger area.”
About 8km along strike to the east of Morrisey Hill, Delta Lithium has had some impressive drill hits from surface, extending to about 350m depth at its Malinda deposit. Drill hits from Malinda are as high as 35.2m at 1 per cent lithium oxide from 5m, 33m at 1.9 per cent from 218m, 30m at 1.2 per cent from 291m, 19m at 1.6 per cent from 190m, 29m at 1.39 per cent from 121m and 35.2m at 1 per cent from 5m.
At Bonzer, rock-chip samples assayed up to 2.3 per cent, 1.4 per cent and 1.3 per cent lithium oxide. Now, with 9000m of drilling ahead of it, Reach is looking to ground-truth its tantalising leads with a pre-Christmas push for more mineralised meters.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@businessnews.com.au
By Andrew Duffy
