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Axel REE Limited (ASX: AXL, “Axel” or “the Company”) is pleased to advise the commencement of a robust drilling program at its 100% owned and highly prospective, but yet underexplored Caladão Project (Caladão). Caladão is located in a region known as the Lithium Valley in Minas Gerais, Brazil, where many major lithium discoveries have been made, including Sigma Lithium Corp’s Grota do Cirilo LCE mine. Axel is the first company to realise the area's potential for high-grade REE mineralisation in the well-known mining region and with excellent access to infrastructure.
HIGHLIGHTS:
- Phase 1 exploration program to commence at the Caladão REE Project as part of the 20,000m drill campaign planned over the next 2 years
- Aggressive diamond drilling aims to extend the open REE mineralisation at two prospects (Area A and Area B) that previously uncovered 25km of mineralised strike, including a large radiometric circular structure at Area B
- Phase 1 program will also test the depth of the clay profile with diamond drilling the most effective method to drill to bedrock. Previous auger drilling (to average 15m depth) indicated REE mineralisation is open at depth
- This first program will include 52 holes and is anticipated to total ~2,600 metres of diamond drilling
- Phase 1 program at Caladão opens Axel’s aggressive IPO exploration strategy, with Caldas (Poços de Caldas REE) and Itiquira (Mato Grosso REE/Nb) Phase 1 campaigns to follow in the coming weeks
Axel holds ~400km² in exploration permits and applications at Caladão, which is one of four prospective rare earth elements (REE) and niobium (Nb) projects 100% owned by the Company that covers over 1,100km².
Managing Director, Dr Fernando Tallarico, said:
“Having successfully completed Axel’s IPO, we are now in the position to immediately embark on our strategy to unlock value in our highly prospective Caladão Project, in the Lithium Valley, by launching our Phase 1 2,600m diamond drilling program. This program holds immense potential as the historical auger results defined two target areas that spanned a combined strike length of 25km with mineralisation open at depth, laterally, and along the strike.
Diamond drilling will cross the entire regolith profile, and only cease once the bedrock is reached. This approach will enable us to comprehensively examine the entire clay profile, map the zoning of the clay horizons, and determine the true thickness of the potentially REE-bearing clay zone. We are also targeting a large circular radiometric structure at Area B and have planned our program to be fluid where we will follow the richest areas as results progressively return.
This Phase 1 program forms part of our 20,000m program planned at Caladão and aligns with our IPO strategy to aggressively work our projects. Our Caldas Project in the world-class Poços de Caldas Alkaline Complex and Itiquira REE/niobium project will progressively follow and we are excited for the continuous newsflow to come.”
Figure 1 – Map of the Axel REE’s 100% owned projects in Brazil.
Previous geochemical and shallow auger drilling programs completed by the Company in 2023 that covered only ~20% of the Project, determined two highly prospective targets (Area A and Area B), with elevated soil samples up to 3,547 ppm TREO and auger drill intercepts up to 2 metres @ 7,612 ppm TREO, with the thickest intercept including 18 metres @ 2,678 ppm TREO. All mineralised auger holes ended in mineralisation denoting that the true thickness of the REE mineralisation is yet to be determined. The prospective area is large-scale, covering more than 400km2 with Area A and Area B both open in all directions (along-strike and laterally).
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This article includes content from Axel REE, licensed for the purpose of publishing on Investing News Australia. This article does not constitute financial product advice. It is your responsibility to perform proper due diligence before acting upon any information provided here. Please refer to our full disclaimer here.
AXL:AU
Mining exploration entity or oil and gas exploration entity quarterly cash flow report
Jindalee Lithium Limited is pleased to release its quarterly cash flow report.
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This article includes content from Jindalee Lithium Limited, licensed for the purpose of publishing on Investing News Australia. This article does not constitute financial product advice. It is your responsibility to perform proper due diligence before acting upon any information provided here. Please refer to our full disclaimer here.
Battery-Grade Lithium Carbonate Produced from McDermitt
HIGHLIGHTS:
- First production of Battery-Grade Lithium Carbonate (>99.5%) from test work completed at Hazen Research Inc. in collaboration with Fluor - lead engineer for the PFS underway at the McDermitt Lithium Project
- Production of Battery-Grade Lithium Carbonate marks a major milestone with all steps of the McDermitt flowsheet now validated
- Flowsheet for McDermitt is very similar to Lithium Americas’ Thacker Pass Project currently under construction 30km to the south of McDermitt
- Results will support the PFS, due for release in Q4 CY 2024
These findings, together with other recently identified value optimisation opportunities, will be incorporated in the Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS) currently underway and due for completion Q4 2024.
Fig 1 – McDermitt Lithium Carbonate
Jindalee’s CEO Ian Rodger commented:
"The successful production of battery-grade lithium carbonate from McDermitt ore is a major milestone for Jindalee. This achievement substantially de-risks our processing flowsheet and demonstrates the potential for McDermitt to supply high-quality lithium chemicals to the expanding US battery value chain.
We have been greatly encouraged by the exceptional results we have achieved since commencing the PFS metallurgical test work program with Fluor and Hazen in mid-2023 and anticipate that these results will meaningfully support the outcomes of the McDermitt Lithium Project PFS which is now due for release in Q4 CY 2024.”
Discussion
After investigating various alternatives, in March 2023 acid leaching with beneficiation (see Figure 2) was selected as the preferred flowsheet for the Project2. This decision followed a review of prior test work and high-level benchmarking of five comparator lithium projects by the global engineering, procurement, construction and maintenance company Fluor Corporation (Fluor), which indicated that acid leaching with beneficiation was expected to produce the best economic outcome for the Project. The resultant McDermitt flowsheet (Figure 2) is very similar to that utilised and extensively validated by Lithium Americas Corporation (TSX: LAC) at its Thacker Pass project, which is currently under construction and is also located in the McDermitt Caldera (~30km south of the McDermitt Lithium Project).
Fluor was subsequently appointed as lead engineer for the McDermitt PFS in June 20233, including managing an extensive bench scale metallurgical test work program at Hazen Research Inc. in Colorado, USA, aimed at validating the preferred flowsheet and providing data to inform the PFS (PFS Test Work). To date Jindalee has announced exceptional results from the McDermitt PFS Test Work including results from beneficiation test work in November 20234 and acid leaching in January 20245. Respective highlights include:
- Beneficiation: Beneficiation of a composite sample of McDermitt ore using attrition scrubbing (250μm cut-size), recorded 92.0% Li recovery with 25.3% mass rejection, demonstrating the excellent potential to remove acid consuming material and increase the Lithium grade of leach feed4.
- Acid Leaching: Excellent lithium (Li) extraction rates were achieved from sulphuric acid leaching of beneficiated McDermitt ore. Li extraction from composite samples averaged 93% (250μm) and 94% (75μm) using 500kg sulphuric acid per tonne of leach feed5.
Subsequent to the acid leaching test work described above, an additional 300 kg composite sample (250 µm, comprising Units 4, 6, 8, and 10) was leached, yielding lithium in solution (leachate) for downstream test work (post-leach process steps – see Figure 2). The purification of the lithium-rich solution was successfully completed, resulting in the first production of battery-grade lithium carbonate, assaying 99.8% Li₂CO₃ with acceptable levels of deleterious elements in accordance with a typical third-party contract specification. This achievement significantly de-risks the Project by demonstrating the effectiveness of all process steps of the flowsheet at bench scale. Reaching this milestone provides strong validation of the flowsheet developed for McDermitt.
This article includes content from Jindalee Lithium, licensed for the purpose of publishing on Investing News Australia. This article does not constitute financial product advice. It is your responsibility to perform proper due diligence before acting upon any information provided here. Please refer to our full disclaimer here.
