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Chariot Corporation Limited (“Chariot”, “CC9” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce that following completion of site preparation and the earthworks required to support the drilling program at its flagship Black Mountain Project in Wyoming, USA (“Black Mountain”), a Boart Longyear LF90 surface diamond core drill rig (“Drill Rig”) has arrived at the site. Drilling operations will commence immediately with the first round of assay results from the drill cores expected in January 2024.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Site preparation and earthworks completed
- Drilling team mobilised with offsite infrastructure in place
- Drill rig arrived at the site on 8 November for immediate commencement of drilling operations
- Boart Longyear LF90 surface diamond core drill rig being used
- Initial assay results of the cores expected in January 2024
Chariot’s U.S. subsidiary, Panther Lithium Corporation, plans to drill 2,000 - 3,000m(1) of orientated triple tube HQ sized core. The initial phase 1 program targets outcropping spodumene-bearing LCT pegmatite dykes within a 1km long by 50m to 150m wide zone.
Figure 1: Major Drilling Drill Rig Positioned on a Drill PadDrill Permitting
On 21 August 2023, the Company received formal approval from the United States Bureau of Land Management (“BLM”) to conduct drilling activities at Black Mountain(2). The Company has also obtained approvals for its drilling plan from the Land Quality Division of the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality and the United States Department of Game and Fisheries.
Drill Site Earthworks and Access Road Upgrade
The Company has utilised the historical tracks and roadways in the Black Mountain area which were developed by ranching teams that lease the land from the BLM (for cattle grazing purposes only) and State and County personnel pursuing water drilling initiatives. Between August 2022 and June 2023, the Company’s technical team surveyed the numerous access routes into the site and engaged local stakeholders in order to ascertain time, physical and permitting requirements to enable access for the Drill Rig.
On 16 October 2023, a local earthmoving contractor was mobilised and completed work needed to allow access to the site within permitted disturbance limits, specifications and timeline requirements prescribed by the Company’s drilling contractor, Major Drilling America Inc. (“Major Drilling”). This work included the construction of initial drill pads and the improvement of the existing access road to accommodate the Drill Rig and associated equipment. The upgrade of the access road should be able to support drilling operations through the early winter months(3) and serves as base-level infrastructure for future drilling activities.
Figure 2: Road and Drill Pad Construction at Black Mountain
Drilling Plan
The Phase 1 drill program (“Phase 1 Drill Program”) is designed to test the central portion of the Black Mountain pegmatite dike swarm, comprising a 1,000m long by +100m wide zone of LCT pegmatite sub-crop and outcrop depicted in Figure 3. The Phase 1 Drill Program was developed in part based upon the highly encouraging assay results from the 22 rock chip samples collected to date at Black Mountain. Of the 22 rock chip samples, 14 assayed +300ppm Li (0.06% Li2O), 10 of which were +7,000 ppm Li (1.51% Li2O) with the highest value being 31,018 ppm Li (6.68% Li2O)(4,5). Refer to Figure 3.
These modelled zones were used to develop the initial twenty-three (23) hole drilling plan, which has overlapping fans of holes at varying azimuths and dips from levelled pads shown in the plan view overlain in Figure 3.
The diamond drilled cores will be orientated and HQ sized such that appropriate observations and measurements can be captured and later modelled as part of an in-depth lithological, geochemical, geological, geotechnical and structural analysis.
Chariot’s site geologist and manager will be actively monitoring operations and interactively working with Major Drilling and management to dynamically adjust the plan. Drilled cores from Black Mountain will be sent to Chariot’s core logging and sampling facility in Jeffrey City, Wyoming for core cutting, photography, density measurements, rock quality designation logging, lithological and structural logging with a view to determining appropriate intervals for assay and mineralogy studies.
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This article includes content from Chariot Corporation, 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.
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