Everest Metals Corporation has vowed to keep the drillbit spinning after delivering more high-grade rubidium and lithium results at its Mt Edon project near Paynes Find in Western Australia’s Mid West region.
Significant new intersections revealed by the company today include 80m at 0.32 per cent rubidium oxide and 0.11 per cent lithium oxide from 25m, 5m at 0.27 per cent rubidium oxide and 0.60 lithium oxide from 22m and 2m at 0.34 per cent rubidium oxide with 0.42 per cent lithium oxide from surface.
Management says its 12-hole, 566m reverse-circulation (RC) drilling campaign was conducted across six prospects and included 12 holes with an average depth of 47m. It was designed to further test the potential of the north-east corner and the results from 10 holes confirmed continuity of mineralisation, with assays including 9m at 0.47 per cent rubidium oxide from 87m, 31m grading 0.21 per cent rubidium oxide and 0.12 per cent lithium oxide from 35m, including 7m at 0.34 per cent rubidium oxide from 39m, and 8m at 0.13 per cent rubidium oxide from 19m.
More hits include 15m at 0.22 per cent rubidium oxide and 0.27 per cent lithium oxide from 14m, 10m at 0.21 per cent rubidium oxide from 25m and hits from surface of 21m grading 0.14 per cent rubidium oxide and 3m at 0.18 per cent rubidium oxide.
Two additional RC holes were drilled into pegmatite outcrops within a southern fault zone and also hit mineralisation from surface going 3m grading 0.23 per cent rubidium oxide and 0.1 per cent lithium oxide and 5m at 0.16 per cent rubidium oxide and 0.1 per cent lithium oxide.
Everest Metals Corporation chief operating officer Simon Phillips said: “EMC’s latest round of drilling results confirms the existence of a geological setting that hosts high-grade, world-class Rubidium intersections coincident with increasing Lithium occurrences. EMC’s geological and management team will methodically continue developing its strategy to unlock a Rubidium/Lithium Resource on its ML. Planning for next stage drilling in conjunction with Mineralogical and Processing studies is now underway”.
A hole drilled at Mt Edon during the phase-one campaign in May intersected a mixed zone of altered host rock and 62m of pegmatite up to a depth of 111m and remained open. Geological logging of the chip samples highlighted well-developed, muscovite-rich zones, interpreted to be a mineralised alteration area between the intrusive pegmatites and the mafic country rock.
The hole intersected more than 40m grading 0.26 per cent rubidium oxide from 49m, including 19m at 0.33 per cent. Three higher-grade zones were also intersected, including 2m at 0.53 per cent rubidium oxide and lithium oxide from 14m, 2m at 0.53 per cent rubidium oxide and lithium oxide from 20m and another 2m at 0.53 per cent rubidium oxide and lithium oxide from 30m.
The company says the entire mineralised section in the phase-one hole indicates a highly-fractionated and fertile pegmatite in the north-east corner of the Mt Edon project.
Management says its stage-two program returned a total of 14 mineralised intersections of varying widths with grades in excess of 1.05 per cent rubidium oxide and lithium oxide, in addition to high potassium values of up to 10 per cent and significant caesium enrichment of up to 535 parts per million.
Everest says it is currently conducting mineralogical investigations to better understand the composition of the deposit and will feed the data into reviews of various mineral processing technologies aimed at enriching rubidium and lithium recoveries. It is also posturing to drill some holes at Mt Edon starting later this year.
The United States Geological Survey says specialty glass products are the leading market for rubidium and rubidium carbonate to help reduce electrical conductivity, which improves stability and durability in fiber-optic telecommunications networks. Other rubidium compounds are also used in biomedical research, electronics and pyrotechnics.
The price of rubidium carbonate is currently about $1800 per kilogram, making it one of the highest-value critical metals. The global rubidium market was estimated at 2.57 thousand tonnes in 2021 and is projected to grow with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.01 per cent between 2022-2027, according to Mordor Intelligence.
The value and interest in rubidium has seen a surge in exploration interest this year, leading to a number of discoveries including Krakatoa Resources’ King Tamba project, 70km from Mt Magnet, which also targets mineralised pegmatites.
Aldoro Resources also has an inferred mineral resource of 4.6 million tonnes at 0.17 per cent rubidium oxide and 0.07 per cent lithium oxide at its Niobe project, 80km north-west of Mt Magnet – that is about 8060 contained tonnes of rubidium oxide and 3080 contained tonnes of lithium oxide.
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By Andrew Duffy
