Raiden’s sampling has built confidence that Andover South project represents a high value investment. Pic: Spiderstock via Getty Images.
Mining
Mapping and rock chip sampling over Raiden’s new Andover South tenements continue to define broad zones of pegmatite hosted mineralisation with grades striking over significant lengths and widths.
Tolga-backed Raiden Resources (ASX:RDN) has been on a red hot tear the last couple of months following Azure Minerals’ (ASX:AZS) lithium success in WA’s Pilbara region.
AZS recently flagged an exploration target between 100Mt and 240Mt grading at 1-1.5% Li20 at Andover, which MD Tony Rovira says places the project “within the top 10 lithium deposits in the world.”
This is fantastic news for Raiden, whose Andover North and Andover South projects abut Azure to the north and south.
Early-stage exploration by Raiden has already identified pegmatite outcrop across a ~3.5-kilometre long, 600m wide field, with some individual pegmatites up to 30m wide at surface.
The $66.39m capped explorer has now received the first batch of results (81 out of 301 rock chip assays) from a recently completed mapping and rock chip sampling program, which defined a new 50m wide pegmatite.
This new pegmatite outcrops over a 170m strike and returned the following grades: 2.42% Li2O, 2.27% Li2O, 2.11% Li2O, 1.85% Li2O, 1.81% Li2O, and 1.77% Li2O.
Raiden says these new results correlate well and further substantiate the previously reported pegmatite outcrops observed with up to 30m width, around 350m northeast of the pegmatite outcrop being reported.
Additionally, potential extensions of the pegmatites are interpreted to extend beyond the currently defined outcrops, which could add further to the size of mineralisation at Andover South.
To top it off, the sampling has also returned consistently anomalous rubidium results with a significant percentage returning +0.1% rubidium with a top grade of 0.36% rubidium.
Rubidium is a high-value technology mineral associated with pegmatite deposits which is used in solar panels, fibre optic cables, GPS systems and night vision equipment.
Raiden is currently evaluating the distribution of the elevated rubidium values in regard to the high-grade lithium values and their relationships.
“The results from the ongoing mapping and sampling exercise continue to build confidence for the company that Andover South project represents a high value investment, with drill targets being defined on an ongoing basis,” managing director Dusko Ljubojevic said.
“Detailed mapping continues to define broad zones of pegmatite hosted mineralisation with high grades striking over significant lengths and widths.
“As further results are received, we are hopeful new target zones will be defined as we progress the project to drilling.”
He added that work is ongoing at the Mt Sholl, Pyramid and Arrow projects to define their lithium potential and that the company will report significant results as they are received and interpreted.
While further sampling results are pending, the company has also started planning for a maiden drill program that will focus on the outcropping, high-grade lithium pegmatites.
Mapping teams are currently undertaking further detailed work of the major pegmatites identified thus far, to define their strike and dip orientations to aid in drill planning.
Raiden is also actively engaging with traditional owners to initiate heritage surveys across the area to both avoid areas of cultural significance whilst allowing exploration activities to progress in a timely manner.
Soil sampling and potential geophysical surveys are also being planned over the entire project where pegmatite-hosted mineralisation may be obscured by sediment cover.
This article was developed in collaboration with Raiden Resources, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.
This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.
