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Bryah Resources Limited (ASX: BYH, “the Company” or “Bryah”) is pleased to announce promising rock chip results from its wholly owned Lake Johnston Project, prospective for lithium and nickel. These results are a product of reconnaissance sampling and mapping completed in July 2023.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Rock chip results highly anomalous in suite of elements characteristic of Lithium- caesium-tantalum (LCT) pegmatites, alongside indicator mineralogy and mineral texture.
- Roundbottom prospect pegmatites in area of generally poor bedrock exposure:
- LJRK002 – 403 ppm Li2O, 774 ppm Rb, 228 ppm Nb, 18.2 ppm Ta, 62.7 ppm Sn, and 9.6 ppm W.
- Several sub-linear, parallel pegmatites identified at the Pegasus prospect dipping under recent alluvial cover with anomalous pathfinder elements.
- LJRK009 – 0.13% Rb, 25.2 ppm Nb, 30.8 ppm Cs, 11.8 ppm Be
- These prospects have historically been overlooked, with no previously reported or mapped pegmatites in these areas.
- New tenement under application
Lake Johnston Exploration – What’s Coming Up?
- Detailed geological mapping over prospect area
- Sample preparation and analysis of soil samples collected during this excursion
- Planning underway for regional auger soil sampling programme
- Delineation of drilling targets
Commenting on the results, Bryah CEO Ashley Jones said: “These initial results from pegmatites outcropping at the Lake Johnston Project are promising and confirm the LCT pegmatite prospectivity of our tenure. These rock chip samples are anomalous in lithium, as well as several other key elements distinctive of LCT pegmatites.
These areas have been historically overlooked, with no previously reported pegmatite outcrops. With additional geological mapping, rock chip sampling, and soil sampling, we have the potential to identify some exciting drill targets.
Our neighbours have so far been very successful, particularly at Charger Metal’s Lake Medcalf Prospect and TG Metals Burmeister Project. This is in addition to the nearby, world-class Mt Holland lithium mine. We are in the right postcode, and these rock chip samples confirm that we are searching in the correct areas.”
The Lake Johnston Project consists of eight granted exploration licenses and one licence under application. Six of these licences, covering 569 km2, are held Bryah Resources, whilst a further three licences are held by West Coast Minerals Pty Ltd. West Coast Minerals’ three exploration licences cover approximately 225km2.
The exploration ground extends to within 10 kilometres east of the world class Mount Holland Lithium mine and concentrator being developed under the Wesfarmers Limited/SQM Australia Pty Ltd joint venture. The Mount Holland Lithium project includes the Earl Grey Lithium deposit with a reported Mineral Resource1 of 189 million tonnes grading 1.5% Li2O, making it a globally significant high-grade hard rock lithium deposit.
Figure 1 Geological map of the Lake Johnston area showing Bryah Resources live (granted) and pending tenement holdings. Rock chip samples collected during this trip are shown in white.
Pegasus Prospect
The Pegasus prospect (Figure 2) is an area of mixed colluvium and aeolian sands with very poor outcrop. Bedrock geology is interpreted to consist of amphibolite, Banded Iron Formation (BIF) and olivine komatiite within a sliver of the Younami Terrane greenstone unit east of Lake Johnston. The area has previously been evaluated for komatiite-hosted nickel, analogous to the nearby Maggie- Hays and Emily-Anne deposits.
At the Pegasus prospect, several outcropping pegmatites were observed at the southern end of the tenement striking ~north-west before dipping under cover, hosted in a sheared amphibolite. These coarse to very coarse pegmatites contain key indicator minerals (garnet and tourmaline) as well as mineral growth textures (graphic quartz-feldspar texture) characteristic of LCT pegmatite deposits.
Despite no direct detection of anomalous lithium, the exceptionally anomalous Rb and subsequent low K/Rb ratio, as well as anomalism in Nb, Cs and Be, is encouraging. These anomalous pegmatites are not widely exposed in the area and no clear pegmatite zoning is therefore observed. Further work is required to resolve the true thickness of pegmatites and define lithium-rich zones.
Figure 2 Overview of the Pegasus prospect with rock chip samples coloured to Rb content. Soil sample locations are shown, but currently un-assayed.
Figure 3 Outcropping very coarse pegmatite adjacent to soil sample LJSS009 with distinctive graphic quartz-feldspar texture.
Roundbottom Prospect
The Roundbottom Prospect (Figure 4), located ~3km north of Roundtop Hill, is characterised by expansive sheetwash material with very rare outcropping amphibolite. The bedrock geology is inferred to consist of Youanmi Greenstone Terrane amphibolites and komatiites folded around an Archaean granite contact.
Among the limited outcrop, two localities included some pegmatoidal rocks with a quartz- muscovite-feldspar-garnet mineralogy. Some trace tourmaline was also observed in the LJRK002 pegmatite.
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Bryah Resources
Overview
The global transition to clean energy has ramped up demand for critical metals required to develop new, sustainable technologies such as lithium-ion batteries, solar panels, charging stations and wind turbines. Lithium, nickel, copper and manganese are key resources required to manufacture these low-carbon products. Valued at US$11.3 billion in 2019, the global battery metals market is projected to reach US$20.5 billion by 2027, with a compound annual growth rate of 8.2 percent between 2020 and 2027.
As demand for these resources continues to grow, Western Australia remains a key player in the global mining sector, providing opportunities for mining companies with a presence in the region to capitalize on world-class deposits and benefit from a mining-friendly government. Western Australia has long been a Tier-1 mining jurisdiction and remained strong throughout the pandemic. Western Australia produces 52 percent of the world’s lithium, with Chile in a distant second at 25 percent. China (13 percent) and Argentina (6 percent) are also among the top lithium-producing countries.
Bryah Resources (ASX:BYH) is an exploration and development company with assets in Western Australia. These assets have diverse battery metal mining potential, including lithium, nickel, gold, copper and manganese. They are located throughout the Bryah Basin, a region where, despite its discovery in 2009 as a rich area for exploration, remains underexplored, creating blue-sky potential for the company’s assets. Led by an experienced management team with expertise in the natural resources sector, Bryah Resources is well-positioned for growth.
Bryah Resources Project Locations
The company’s flagship project, Bryah Basin East, consists of two promising assets: Windalah and Olympus. The company discovered a VMS system at the Windalah Prospect confirming the potential of a new copper-gold discovery.
Bryah Resources CEO Ashley Jones called the VMS discovery at the Windalah Project the “most exciting blue-sky event for the company.”
“We’ve got government funding and have planned two drilling campaigns, 400-meter and 600-meter deep holes. If we hit it, it will be amazing; if we don’t, we’re definitely in the right address. I’ve never seen a geological team more excited about a project,” Jones said in an earlier interview,
The company completed its 691-meter diamond drilling program targeting copper-gold VMS mineralization at 300 meters and 500 meters depth at the Windalah copper-gold prospect.
Bryah Resources also made new discoveries at its Horseshoe South Manganese asset, which resulted in a joint venture (JV) partnership with OM Holding Ltd (ASX:OMH), largely due to the potential to develop a low-cost mining operation. OM Holdings is a vertically integrated manganese specialist involved in mining, smelting and trading the mineral, making the company a valuable partner. Bryah Resources holds 49 percent of the asset, with OM Holding retaining 51 percent. The company’s additional assets include projects with copper-gold and lithium-nickel deposits.
Taking the company towards additional exploration and development of its assets, Bryah Resources’ leadership team is guided by decades of experience in the natural resources sector, with geology, finance and business administration expertise, strengthening confidence in its ability to capitalize on its assets.
Company Highlights
- Bryah Resources is an Australia-based mineral exploration and development company with assets in Western Australia.
- The company’s assets include a range of battery metals, such as lithium, copper, manganese and nickel.
- Bryah Resources’ assets are in the Bryah Basin, an underexplored region that only received attention following a 2009 discovery, creating blue-sky potential for the company.
- The discovery of a volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) system at the Windalah Prospect within its flagship asset, Bryah Basin East, confirms the potential of new copper-gold deposits.
- Bryah Resources’ discovery at the Horseshoe South Manganese asset attracted the interest of OM Holdings, creating a new JV partnership.
- The company’s additional Western Australian assets include copper-gold and lithium-nickel deposits.
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Battery Metal Exploration and Development Opportunities in Western Australia