Graphite-focused Kingsland Minerals has tripled the size of its Lake Johnston lithium tenure

Kingsland Minerals increases prospective Lake Johnston lithium tenure to +620km2
Soil sampling in the area to resume imminently as search continues for lithium-bearing pegmatites
Maiden graphite resource for flagship Leliyn project in Northern Territory still on track for this quarter

Special Report: Kingsland Minerals has tripled its tenure in the emerging Lake Johnston lithium province while it remains focused on delivering a maiden resource for its flagship Leliyn graphite project later this quarter.

The Lake Johnston greenstone belt has become the latest lithium hotspot in Western Australia following exploration success by the likes of TG Metals (ASX: TG6) and a potential investment of up to $42.5 million from mining giant Rio Tinto (ASX: RIO) in prospective ground held by Charger Metals (ASX: CHR).

Kingsland Minerals (ASX: KNG) now controls more than 620km2 along the western fringes of the greenstone belt after picking up a suite of tenements which were previously tested for nickel and gold, but not lithium.

The new acquisitions are located immediately south of KNG’s existing E63/2068 tenement in the Lake Johnston area, about 150km west of Norseman.

According to KNG managing director Richard Maddocks, E63/2068 was originally acquired for its nickel prospectivity and while that still remains an exploration target, the discovery of lithium-bearing pegmatites in the Lake Johnston area encouraged the company to expand its ground holding.

“Kingsland has strong evidence of lithium mineralisation within our tenement package and exploration has commenced to delineate high-grade, pegmatite-hosted lithium mineralisation,” Maddocks said.

Kingsland has acquired a suite of prospective lithium tenements to the south of its existing EL63/2068 licence in the Lake Johnston area. Source: KNG

Lithium potential never previously tested

Historical drilling by Western Areas – acquired by IGO (ASX: IGO) 18 months ago – intersected pegmatites up to 44m in thickness adjacent to logged mafic units.

Assaying at the time was purely focused on nickel, so its potential for lithium or associated elements have never been tested.

KNG recently sent selected samples of pegmatitic intervals recovered from those historical drill spoils for re-assaying. Highlights from this program included 5m composite samples of 75ppm Li2O from 93-98m and 278ppm Li2O from 98-103m in hole LPRC007.

Hole LPRC008 also returned 136ppm Li2O from 44-48m despite this interval not being logged as pegmatitic in historical data.

KNG cautioned this sampling and re-assaying program was “not comprehensive” and is only being used to indicate the presence of anomalous lithium.

Historic exploration over the new tenement applications was primarily focused on gold and limited to sparse soil sampling and some scattered aircore and RAB drilling.

Previous drilling on Kingsland’s tenements was focused on nickel and gold. Source: KNG

Lithium search to resume but graphite still top priority

KNG began a soil sampling program on its Lake Johnston tenements in early December, beginning north of E63/2068, before exploration efforts were curtailed by bushfires in the area.

Samples collected to date have been submitted for assay with results expected in the coming weeks. Exploration work is also set to resume imminently.

Meanwhile, KNG remains on track to deliver a maiden resource for its flagship Leliyn graphite project in the Northern Territory later this quarter.

The company’s exploration target for the project is 200-250Mt @ 8-11% TGC for contained graphite of 16-27Mt, based on a graphitic schist measuring 5km long, 200m deep and 100m wide.

KNG believes there is also significant exploration potential within the remaining 15km of graphitic schist at Leliyn.

 

This article was developed in collaboration with Kingsland Minerals, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.

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