The Trifecta: Maximus drills into lithium, nickel and gold at Spargoville…and there’s more to come

RC drilling at Maximus’ Kandui prospect and Hilditch gold project has intersected lithium, nickel and gold
Kandui and Hilditch are within the greater Lefroy lithium project where a US$3 million farm-in agreement was executed with KOMIR
The company says Hilditch has near-term gold production potential
3,000m RC drilling to further test lithium targets planned

Reverse Circulation (RC) drilling results from Maximus Resources’ Kandui nickel prospect and the Hilditch gold project in WA has intersected lithium, nickel and gold mineralisation.

The company’s Spargoville tenements are in the highly endowed Kambalda nickel province and the dominant Eastern Goldfields lithium-caesium-tantalum (LCT) province.

Kandui in particular is at the northern extent of the Spargoville and Mt Edwards corridor of nickel deposits, and around ~16km to the south of Mineral Resources’ (ASX:MIN) Mt Marion lithium mine.

Both Kandui and Hilditch are within the Lefroy lithium project, where the company has entered a US$3 million (~AU$4.8 million) Farm-in agreement with the Korea Mine Rehabilitation and Mineral Resources Corporation (KOMIR).

KOMIR is a Korean Government agency responsible for national resource security, supported through the development of overseas mining and processing capacity to supply the Korean market.

Assays from Maximus’ 15-hole, 1,658m RC program has flagged both nickel and lithium mineralisation at Kandui, along with shallow, high-grade gold at Hilditch.

Large LCT pegmatite system

The RC drilling was designed to test multiple targets at the projects including the potential plunge of nickel sulphide mineralisation and to drill test a strong nickel-copper-PGE soil geochemical anomaly at Kandui, with assays including:

7m at 0.48% nickel from 6m including 1m at 0.91% nickel from 11m, and 2m at 0.62% nickel from 18m, including 1m at 0.81% nickel from 19m; and
4m at 0.52% nickel from 100m, including 1m at 1.02% nickel from 125m.

The drilling also intersected a previously unknown pegmatite of 6m at 1.11% Li2O from 90m including 3m at 1.99% Li2O from 91m.

Numerous shallow dipping pegmatites have already been identified in the Lefroy lithium project area coinciding with a 2x1km lithium soil anomaly.

The company is confident the project has the potential to host a large LCT pegmatite mineral system.

“This drilling program has revealed a new lithium-bearing pegmatite at Lefroy that was hidden under cover,” Maximus Resources (ASX:MXR) managing director Tim Wither said.

“The previously unknown lithium-bearing pegmatite is a very exciting development, as we are about to launch the first phase of our drilling program across the Lefroy lithium prospect in collaboration with our KOMIR partners.

“Kandui is known to have several shallow dipping intrusive pegmatites, crosscutting the nickel mineralisation, and this discovery highlights the potential for more lithium-bearing pegmatites to be found across the large lithium anomaly to be drill-tested at Lefroy.”

Kandui Prospect location plan showing completed drilling, downhole nickel grades, and outcropping pegmatites. Source: MXR.

Wither says the nickel results are encouraging too and provide “strong validation” of the company’s geochemistry soil mapping program.

“All holes intersected nickel mineralisation proximal to an interpreted basal contact, and follow-up drilling is warranted,” he said.

Near-term production potential at Hilditch

All seven drill holes at Hilditch intersected gold mineralisation, including:

5m at 2.23g/t gold from 14m, 2m at 1.36g/t gold from 63m, 1m at 1.21g/t gold from 71m, and 1m at 1.24g/t gold from 95m;
1m at 0.78g/t gold from 9m, 4m at 0.89g/t gold from 20m and 2m at 0.96g/t gold from 101m; and
5m at 0.81g/t gold from 12m and 3m at 0.52g/t gold from 91m.

Notably, Hilditch is adjacent to the state highway and proximal to several toll-treating processing plants and sits on the fertile Spargoville Shear Zone, between Karora Resources’ (TSX:KRR) high-grade Spargo’s Reward gold project and ~9km north of the company’s 251,500oz Wattle Dam gold project.

“The separate drilling at Hilditch Gold continues to be effective, with these and previous drill program results to be utilised for a gold resource update,” Wither said.

“Due to its shallow, high-grade mineralisation, Hilditch has the prospect to be a near-term production source for the company.”

An update of the 132,000t at 1.77 g/t gold for 7,511oz resource is now under way.

3,000m more of RC drilling planned

The company now plans to kick off a 30 hole, 3,000m RC program to test the lithium soil anomaly with known pegmatites across the Lefroy lithium project.

A down-hole electromagnetic (DHEM) survey is planned across several holes at Kandui to assist with future drill hole targeting, with soil sampling also continuing at the Kandui, Sorake, Pinnacles, and Le-Bar prospects.

On the gold front, the resource update for Hilditch is under way and is expected to be finalised by early December.

MXR has also begun a review of the Larkinville gold project resource, with the aim of bolstering the company’s 320,500 oz gold resource.