Lithium development company Critical Resources Limited ASX:CRR (“Critical Resources” or “the Company”) is pleased to announce that the first drill hole completed as part of its summer 2023 resource extension drilling program, has intersected 74.4 meters of spodumene-bearing pegmatite1 at the Company’s 100%-owned Mavis Lake Lithium Project in Ontario, Canada.
Highlights
- Outstanding start to the summer drilling program at Mavis Lake, with the first drill hole intersecting a massive 74.4 metres of continuous spodumene-bearing pegmatite
- Diamond drill hole MF23-207 intersected 74.4m of pegmatite with and average estimate of 20% spodumene
- The intercept is outside the current Mineral Resource envelope and is expected to result in a meaningful increase in total Resource tonnage
- Extension drilling will continue throughout the next few months to support a future Resource upgrade
- Assays are expected back form the lab in 6 to 8 weeks
- Planning continues in order to drill test the highly prospective Gullwing and Tot Lakes pegmatites which are contiguous to the Mavis Lake tenements
The drill hole which was designed to extend beyond the known mineralisation area that defines the maiden 8Mt lithium Mineral Resource Estimate (“MRE") at Mavis Lake (refer ASX Announcement 5 May 2023)
The intercept is the widest interval of spodumene mineralisation recorded to date, highlighting the Project’s significant upside potential. Full exploration results are provided in Appendix 1.
Critical Resources Managing Director, Alex Cheeseman said:
“Extensional and in-fill drilling has been carefully planned as we step off known, modelled mineralisation to upgrade and expand the maiden Resource however, the size of this intercept has well and truly taken Mavis Lake to a new level.”
“The intercept, along with other recently released exploration results are not currently included in our 8.0Mt Resource. Targeted drilling will continue over the coming months and we are truly excited as to the resource potential of this world class asset.”
“We are also working concurrently to test our Gullwing and Tot Lake pegmatites, where we have 8km of pegmatite clusters to test which can potentially add additional resources.”
Spodumene Mineral Percentage Estimates1
The intercept has been recorded on the western area of the Mavis Lake Main Zone. Figure 1 shows approximately 74.4m of continuous spodumene mineralisation from drillhole MF23-207, with cross section shown in Figure 2. Drillhole summary provided in table 1, with visual estimates of spodumene mineralisation shown in Table 2.
MF23-207 was designed to test the northern extents of the Main Zone for the purposes of both in-fill and extending the mineralisation. This spodumene-bearing pegmatite intercept is ~40m away from previous intercepts and will continue to expand the mineralisation shapes further down-dip.
The pinching and swelling of the Main Zone is complex and warrants further in-fill and extensional drilling to determine the orebody’s true geometry. The true thickness of this intercept has yet to be determined due to the irregular contact angles and the location of the pegmatite within the project mineral shapes from the most recent MRE. The significant down-hole width is expected to contribute towards additional tonnage for a MRE upgrade.
Spodumene mineralisation is persistent throughout the pegmatite, averaging approximately 20%, with up to meter-scale highs of over 50% of large, white-grey spodumene laths. The mineralisation appears similar to previously drilled high-grade Li2O intercepts. The assay results will determine the actual lithium grade of this intercept, and are expected to be received in 6-8 weeks.
Figure 1 – Approximately 74.4m of continuous spodumene mineralisation from drill hole MF23-207, intercepted from 176.15m to 250.55m down-hole
Figure 2 – Cross Section of Drill hole MF23-207, in context to previous drilling
Future Work
Immediate drilling will continue to test proximal to MF23-207 to gain an understanding for the large swell area within the Main Zone. More drilling will test laterally and to the north for resource expansion.
Future in-fill drilling will test the up-dip extents of this swell area. Drilling will also test for more lower stacks of mineralised pegmatites that have been previously intersected.
High priority resource expansion at the Main Zone includes testing pegmatite 9, which has never been drill tested. Priority targets are all located in the western portion of the Main Zone.
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Figure 1 – Approximately 74.4m of continuous spodumene mineralisation from drill hole MF23-207, intercepted from 176.15m to 250.55m down-hole
Figure 2 – Cross Section of Drill hole MF23-207, in context to previous drilling
