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Lithium development company Critical Resources Limited ASX:CRR (“Critical Resources” or “the Company”) is pleased to announce that following a short seasonal pause in May, drilling is again underway. The summer drill campaign is in support of a future Resource upgrade at the Company’s 100%-owned Mavis Lake Lithium Project in Ontario, Canada.
Highlights
- Drilling campaign underway targeting Resource growth at Mavis Lake
- Drill plan designed to confirm mineralisation both laterally, near surface and at depth
- Targeted drill holes have been designed to support a future Resource upgrade an increase in Resource tonnage and a Mineral Resource Estimate category upgrade
- Critical Resources remains one of only two ASX-listed lithium Companies to hold a JORC Code 2012 compliant lithium resource in Ontario, Canada
- The Company continues to advance the Mavis Lake Lithium Project with a clear pathway for development and value creation
- The Company is also finalising the summer campaign for its recently acquired Gullwing and Tot Lake prospects
Future Resource Upgrade
Following the release of the Company’s Maiden Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) – 8.0Mt at 1.07% Li2O (refer ASX Announcement, 5 May 2023), drilling is underway aimed to extend the known mineralisation and ultimately support a future Resource upgrade. Drill holes have been designed to provide both a category upgrade and an increase in total Resource tonnage.
Infill drilling – Category Upgrade
Drilling which is intended to provide a category upgrade will focus principally on in-fill drilling at the Main Zone. The infill program will seek to ensure that a high proportion of the future Resource is upgraded from Inferred to Indicated.
Planned drill holes will continue to in-fill at 50m drill hole spacing across the current Resource mineralised ore shapes. In-fill drilling will also test mineralised zones for extensional/resource expansion potential.
The initial infill area can be seen in Figure 1.
Resource Growth
Drilling aimed at achieving Resource growth is anticipated to be achieved immediately through extensional drilling of the Main Zone. Priority targets include drill testing of “Pegmatite 9” – a mapped, spodumene bearing pegmatite that has not been drill tested to date.
The Pegmatite 9 target area can be seen in Figure 1.
Figure 1 – Pegmatite 9 growth (grey highlight) and Main Zone infill (green highlight) target areas seen in context to previous intercept highlights
Critical Resources Managing Director, Alex Cheeseman, said:
“Off the back of the Maiden Mineral Resource Estimate, it’s great to have the drill rigs spinning in support of a Resource upgrade. We’ve said it before, but this really is just the start for Mavis Lake, there is so much potential and growth opportunity with this Project.
“Along with Resource growth, we continue to advance multiple development streams and have a clear pathway to value creation.
“The North American policy and investment environment for critical minerals and decarbonsation efforts is seeing unprecedented government and industry activity and commitment. It’s clear that lithium raw material projects in North America are in high demand, and this positions Critical Resources perfectly as we continue to advance the Mavis Lake Lithium Project.”
Click here for the full ASX Release
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.
Click here for the full ASX Release
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.
