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Lithium exploration and project development company Critical Resources Limited ASX:CRR (“Critical Resources” or “the Company”) is pleased to report exceptional new thick, high-grade results from ongoing following drilling around the recent breakthrough drill-hole MF23-207, with assays continuing to validate and expand the recently discovered “Swell Zone” at the Mavis Lake Lithium Project in Ontario, Canada.
Highlights
- Exceptional new results from drilling following up the recently reported results from drill-hole MF23-207 (74.4m @ 1.18% Li2O including 32.95m @ 1.81% Li2O).
- Drill holes testing the Swell Zone both East and West of MF23-207 have continued to intersect large, high-grade intervals of mineralisation, providing a greater level of confidence that the thick, high-grade mineralisation extends over a 200m strike.
- Assays confirm:
- Drill-hole MF23-213 with 50.2m @ 1.28% Li2O from 203.6m down-hole, including multiple meter-wide segments of extremely high-grade spodumene mineralisation, from 2.11% Li2O to 4.18% Li2O.
- Drill-hole MF23-214 with 65.45m @ 0.84% Li2O from 186.25m down-hole, including 55m @ 0.95% Li2O from 194m down-hole, including 25.85m @ 1.30% Li2O from 214m down-hole.
- Permit approval for further drill pads to continue testing the Swell Zone are expected imminently, allowing follow-up drilling to commence in the coming weeks.
- All drilling results are rapidly adding tonnage to the existing Resource, putting the Company on track for a major Resource upgrade in H1 2024.
Critical Resources Managing Director, Alex Cheeseman said:
“These outstanding results in terms of both thickness and grade provide further evidence that the Mavis Lake Swell Zone is a game-changing discovery for the Company.
“Continued wide, high-grade results make it clear that Mavis Lake is a project with significant potential. Its location, within 10km of the City of Dryden, immediate access to world-class infrastructure and the surrounding automotive industries in Southern Ontario and Michigan State, make this a project of strategic importance.”
Exploration Overview
Drilling has been designed to continue to test the Swell Zone both east and west of Drill Hole MF23- 207, within the limits of current approved drill pads. Assay results have confirmed that the Swell Zone has a current strike of 200m, showing consistency of mineralisation thickness (from 50m to 74m) and also consistency of grade (from 0.84% Li2O to 1.28% Li2O), including localised peaks of extremely high grade up to 4.18% Li2O.
Current drilling forms part of the 2023 resource extension drilling program, seeking to establish Mavis Lake as the largest single-site, JORC Code 2012 Compliant Lithium Resource in Ontario.
Full exploration results are provided in Appendix 1.
Demonstrating Consistency in the Swell Zone
The outstanding high-grade assays and broad zones of mineralisation in MF23-213 and MF23-214 extend the Swell Zone laterally while continuing to solidify the significance of the Swell Zone. Figure 1 shows the Plan view of the key intercepts in the Swell Zone, with Figures 2 and 3, a long section and cross section respectively, showing Swell consistency. Significant assay data can be seen in Table 1.
Figure 1 – Plan view of Swell Zone Result with Figures 2 and 3 cross-section reference
MF23-213 intersected the Swell Zone approximately 115m west from MF23-207’s 74.4m @ 1.18% Li2O pegmatite intercept. Drill hole MF23-213 provides a high level of confidence in the continuity of the large widths and high grades intersected so far in the Swell Zone while also delineating the trend and geometry of this important new structure towards the West, as shown in figure 2. The Swell Zone trend has a shallow plunge of approximately 10 degrees, trending at 280Az.
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This article includes content from Critical Resources, 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.
CRR:AU
Spodumene Pegmatite Discovery at Esperança Project in Brazil Yields LIBS Results up to 4.04% Li2O
The discovery has been made during early-stage exploration programs which include project scale geological mapping, ground reconnaissance, and soil sampling. These early-stage programs remain ongoing with further results to come over the coming weeks. The discovery supports the Company’s exploration thesis and uplifts the remaining prospectivity across all three project areas: Canabrava, Caraíbas and Esperança projects.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Artisanal excavations reveal a lithium bearing pegmatite with elongate crystalline spodumene crystals up to 50cm in length
- LIBS (Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy) results of spodumene crystals return up to 18,800 ppm Lithium, or 4.04% Li2O
- Discovery provides walk up drill target for fully funded drilling campaign to begin Q1 2025
- Soil sampling and geological mapping continues across the Esperança, Canabrava and Caraíbas projects with further results due over the coming weeks
Lightning Minerals Managing Director Alex Biggs said, “I am highly encouraged by these results from Brazil. As I have spoken about, as a team we are committed to discovery and completing our works in a diligent and structured manner, the proof of which is in these results. The Company is progressing its projects in Brazil quickly and cost effectively and generating significant results for the business which we feel will be transformational. I am proud of and congratulate our geology teams both in Australia and Brazil who have conducted themselves in a professional and astute manner which has been crucial in making a discovery such as this. This is a great first step for us in Brazil and is testament to the prospectivity of the region as I have discussed previously. We look forward to drilling in Q1 2025 and further results to come imminently from all three project areas in Brazil. I would also like to thank our shareholders who have supported our vision and exploration strategy. As a Company we are firmly committed to the lithium thematic and firmly committed to Brazil where we see significant potential moving forwards”.
Lithium Discovery at Esperança Project
During geological mapping fieldwork conducted in mid-November 2024 field geologists encountered a previously unknown historical artisanal mine within the Esperança project area. The site presented with a small access which opened into a set of sub vertical shafts sunk several meters into schists of the Salinas formation. Upon investigation the geology team has discovered pegmatitic lithologies in the walls of the excavations, of which the suite of minerals indicates inclusion of macro crystalline (up to 50cm) elongate crystals of spodumene as shown in Figure 1(a) and Figure 1(b).
Figure 1a (left): Brazilian geologist Vitor Araujo Alves showing the spodumene rich portion of the zoned pegmatite discovered at the Esperança Property. Figure 1b (right): Large elongate spodumene crystals (Spd) up to 50cm in length showing homogeneous growth patterns amongst a quartz (Qtz) and Feldspar (Fdsp) rich matrix
The Company’s geologists have collected selective mineral specimen grab samples in sample VLM207 (Figure 2). Six separate minerals have been analysed via a SciAps Z-903 hand-held LIBS (Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy) device which has returned lithium endowment of up to 18,800 ppm lithium, which equates to a lithium oxide percentage of 4.04% Li2O.
The SciAps Z-903 handheld LIBS device is considered a qualitative analysis technique only and is used as an in-field preliminary check to establish if a mineral is lithium-bearing. Certified laboratory assays are required to provide accurate, quantitative analysis. A table of the six SciAps Z-903 handheld LIBS results testing the spodumene crystals is shown in Table 1. A full table of results are presented in Appendix 2, Table 2.
While the current field observations indicate that the mineral identified is a lithium-bearing mineral, the percentage of lithium produced from the LIBS analyser does not correlate to an accurate quantitative measurement of the lithium concentration of the mineral itself, or to the overall grade of the pegmatite.
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This article includes content from Lightning Minerals, 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.
