Infill soil sampling confirms more significant lithium-caesium-tantalum anomalies
NickelSearch now has eight anomalies to drill test
Ongoing work could uncover more potential drill targets
Special Report: Infill soil sampling has confirmed further significant lithium-caesium-tantalum (LCT) anomalies to the north of the historical quarry area at NickelSearch’s Carlingup project in WA.
Carlingup covers 108km2 of ground within the Ravensthorpe greenstone belt – a highly prospective region for nickel sulphide deposits on the southern margin of the Archean Yilgarn Craton.
While the project already has a 155,000t nickel resource adjacent to First Quantum’s Ravensthorpe Nickel Operations (RNO), NickelSearch (ASX:NIS) is now having a look at the lithium prospectivity of its tenure, with early soil and rock chip sampling defining a discrete area of LCT pegmatite-related anomalism immediately to the north of the quarry pit.
This was followed by infill soil sampling that confirmed significant LCT anomalies measuring between 250m by 500m and 200m by 100m around the quarry that assayed at three times the background levels for lithium, 4.5 times for caesium and 4.7 times for tantalum.Work is also under way to clear the quarry floor to expose the bedrock geology, enabling NIS to identify the source of high-grade lithium mineralisation.
More lithium targets to test
Infill soil sampling has now confirmed a further three anomalies, taking the number of anomalies to be drill tested up to eight.
The new anomalies measure between 350m by 250m and 150m by 100m with peak assays of up to 2.7 times the background levels for lithium, 15.6 times for caesium and 9.3 times for tantalum.
“Our work within and around the quarry continues to encounter encouraging indicators for a LCT pegmatite system over a large footprint,” NIS managing director Nicole Duncan said.
“The assays from soil sampling to the north of the quarry show levels of LCT pegmatite metals well above background levels (between 2.7x and 15.6x background). Rock chip samples taken during the mapping confirm that many of the pegmatite intrusions contain elements associated with LCT pegmatites.
“It is very encouraging to see these results, with pegmatites in the region generally having relatively weak surface expressions and better grades in the fresh parts of the system below.”
It’s time to drill
NIS is now planning a drill program to test the eight LCT anomalies.
It also noted that these were identified within and around 28 areas of interest, meaning that ongoing work could generate additional targets.
Work is also continuing across the broader Ravensthorpe tenure including the recently acquired tenements to generate, refine and prioritise lithium targets.
This article was developed in collaboration with NickelSearch, 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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