Lithium exploration and project development company Critical Resources Limited ASX:CRR (“Critical Resources” or “the Company”) is pleased to advise that follow-up drilling around the recent breakthrough 74.4m intercept (Drill-hole MF23-207: refer to ASX Announcement released 24 July 2023) has continued to validate and expand the recently discovered “Swell Zone” at the Mavis Lake Lithium Project in Ontario, Canada.
Highlights
- Continued drilling success along trend from the recently reported diamond drill-hole MF23-207 – 74.4m @ 1.18% Li2O including 32.95m @ 1.81% Li2O.
- Multiple wide mineralised zones intersected in further diamond drill-holes targeting the “Swell Zone”, with assayed intercepts including:
- Drill-hole MF23-211 with 41.0m @ 1.18% Li2O from 206.6m down-hole;
- Drill-hole MF23-210 with 41.25m @ 1.25% Li2O from 208.3m down-hole;
- Drill-hole MF23-209 with 20.7m @ 1.21% Li2O from 212m down-hole; and
- Drill-hole MF23-208 with 13.8m @ 1.81% Li2O from 156.5m down-hole and 13.3m @ 1.56% Li2O from 343.9m down-hole.
- The wide intercepts are outside of the current Mineral Resource envelope and will add significant tonnage to our next resource upgrade.
- Every drill-hole also displayed localised sections of very high-grade lithium mineralisation grading above 2.2% Li2O, with drill holes MF23-209 and MF23-210 containing sections grading over 3.1% Li2O.
- Drilling continues to test the mineralisation in the Swell Zone, with the Swell remaining open.
- Further assays from this new zone are pending and will be released to the market as soon as they become available.
Since that discovery intercept, the Company has completed a series of further drill-holes targeting this exciting new position, with multiple holes encountering thick mineralised intercepts, demonstrating consistency around the plunge theory at the Mavis Lake Main Zone.
Current drilling forms part of the summer 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.
Extension of Swell Plunge Trend
The drilling was designed to follow up the successful intercept in Drill-hole MF23-207 and test both the lateral, up-dip and down-dip extents of the newly identified Swell Zone. The new intercepts can be seen in Figure 2, with a summary of assay results in Table1.
Figure 1 – Plan view of Mavis Lake Mineral Resource with Figure 2 cross-section reference
Drill-hole MF23-208 was immediately drilled following the success of MF23-207, however this hole was originally designed for resource extension and intersected the Main Zone up-dip of the swell trend.
The hole was able to intersect three significant mineralised zones, with multiple high-grade sections over 2.2% Li2O. The drill-hole also demonstrated continuity, with two intercepts of continuous, high- grade mineralisation, each over 13 metres down-hole grading over 1.5% Li2O.
A full breakdown of assay results is provided in Table 1. The deepest zone, starting at 343m down- hole, demonstrates the presence of significant spodumene mineralisation at depth, which will continue to be tested.
Figure 2 – Cross-section of drill-holes MF23-208, MF23-209 and MF23-210, in context to previous drilling and the current Resource shape (left image), and cross-section of drill-hole MF23-211, in context to previous drilling and the current Resource shape (right image)
Drill-holes MF23-209 and MF23-210 were designed to test the down-dip extents of the swell trend identified by MF23-207. Both returned multiple thick intercepts of high-grade spodumene, including exceptionally high-grade zones grading over 3% Li2O. Some mineralised segments were separated by very thin mafic volcanic units.
These intercepts have extended the mineralisation in the Swell Zone by an additional ~50m down- dip and ~25m east. These holes were also used to assist in defining the geometry of the Swell Zone and allow for future drill-hole planning.
MF23-211 was a step-out, collared west of MF23-207 and designed to test the lateral extension of the Swell Zone. MF23-211 successfully intersected thick spodumene-bearing pegmatite, with an average grade of 1.18% Li2O over 41m down-hole, with multiple sections grading over 2.1% Li2O. This key intercept helps validate the theory that the Swell Zone is expanding laterally.
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Figure 1 – Plan view of Mavis Lake Mineral Resource with Figure 2 cross-section reference
Figure 2 – Cross-section of drill-holes MF23-208, MF23-209 and MF23-210, in context to previous drilling and the current Resource shape (left image), and cross-section of drill-hole MF23-211, in context to previous drilling and the current Resource shape (right image)
