Premier1 Lithium

MinEx CRC Commences Government Funded Drilling on Moonera Project

Premier1 Lithium Limited (ASX:PLC) (“Premier1” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce the commencement of drilling at the Company’s Moonera project in the Madura Province of Western Australia.


HIGHLIGHTS

  • Government funded drilling has commenced at the Moonera copper and rare earth elements project in the Eucla Basin
  • Drilling to be undertaken using the innovative coiled-tube drilling method pioneered by MinEx CRC and its partner the Geological Survey of Western Australia
  • Program consists of 3 to 4 holes down to a depth of approximately 700m
  • Premier1 benefits from any discovery made
Moonera is a copper and rare earth elements joint venture project that had previously been identified and drill tested with two drill holes by the Company in 2022 and 2023 (see technical annex). Through this previous drilling, Premier1 currently holds a 40% interest in the project and may elect to earn up to 80% by spending another $1.4m by 30 December 2024.

The Geological Survey of Western Australia (GSWA) previously advised SensOre (now Premier1) in 2023 that they wish to utilise the coiled-tube drilling method to test its applicability in the area. The program consists of 3 to 4 deep drill holes and is part of a precompetitive stratigraphic borehole program which will fill a gap in GSWA drilling in the region.

The majority of prior GSWA drilling was in the vicinity of the Trans-Australian railway line, approximately 100 km to the north. The holes being drilled currently would intersect the buried Madura Province Proterozoic basement beneath the younger Eucla Basin cover sediments.

This work is part of a long-running precompetitive geoscience program by GSWA which will improve understanding of the mineral, energy and groundwater potential of the region. MinEx CRC seeks to obtain drill core, chips and downhole data (such as semi-automated scanned geochemistry) from a series of stratigraphic boreholes up to an approximate depth of 700 m, penetrating through cover of the Eucla Basin.

The obtained multielement data will allow Premier1 to further test the copper and rare earth element potential of the project at no cost. The boreholes also further test the use of novel, smaller footprint coiled-tube drilling techniques for stratigraphic drilling in covered geological terranes.

Richard Taylor, CEO of Premier1, commented:

“We are pleased to see the GSWA and MinEx CRC trialling its innovative drilling approach at Moonera. The engagement is testament to the potential identified by SensOre before our recent demerger and we are excited to see the results of this test.”


Click here for the full ASX Release

This article includes content from Premier1 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.

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