Aldoro Resources could be sitting on a jewellery box of rubidium and lithium at its Wyemandoo project, saying the pegmatite fairway boasts “world class potential”.

Shares in Aldoro Resources (ASX:ARN) shot up on high grade rubidium rock chip assays collected over 9km at Wyemandoo.

A total of 52 pegmatite rock chip samples had an average of 5,493ppm (0.54%) rubidium with one sample reporting 17,123ppm Rb (1.7%).

Over half of the 20 samples analysed around the loop structure have more than 1% lithium oxide (up to 2.12% Li2O) and an average grade of 1.06% Li2O.

Those rubidium assays point to high grade potential at Wyemandoo and hold up well in comparison to grades at deposits around the world.

The largest JORC-compliant resource of the rare metal is Lepidico’s Karibib deposit in Namibia, published at 6.7Mt of ore grading 0.23%Rb, 0.46% Li2O and 320ppm caesium.

Aldoro has rebranded the pegmatite fairway of the Wyemandoo project in an indication of its growing significance within its suite of exploration assets.

A larger sampling project is expected to start later this month to capitalise on the early success.

“The Aldoro board are encouraged to have secured such a large lithium bearing pegmatite fairway in its entirety which demonstrates the early hallmarks of being categorised as a tier 1 critical resources asset given the initial sample results for lithium, caesium and rubidium,” the company said.

“A larger systematic sampling program is currently being finalised. The program is expected to take place later in October and will focus on sampling at a 40m interval along the extent of the pegmatite outcropping and will also utilise the XRF tool to indicate the occurrence of the Rb mineralisation for immediate forward planning of drill hole positions.”

Lepidolite pegmatites over 9km of outcropping strike

The scale of opportunity at Wyemandoo comes from the grades found in the rock chip samples and the size of the lepidolite pegmatites identified by Aldoro.

These generally trend northeast and can strike over 1000m in length.

Running over 9km of outcropping strike, the Wyemandoo pegmatite swarm appears to cover an area of 10km long by 4km wide.

The 52 rock chip samples that delivered the high rubidium grades also produced anomalous Li2O, with an average of 0.63% Li2O (5ppm to 2.597%) and caesium, averaging 146ppm (0.3 to 542ppm).

But the Loop Pegmatite structure where rock chip samples for lithium oxide averaged over 1%, a typical economic grade for the battery metal, appears to be more fractionated, enriching the rocks with lithium, rubidium and caesium metals.

Aldoro plans to target this zone in the next phase of rock chip sampling across the “Fairway Pegmatite Corridor”.

Economic review highlights lithium, rubidium opportunity

Lithium is one of the top performing commodities of the last few months with once-ailing spodumene prices now fetching record levels of around $2100-2200/t.

Rubidium’s value is a nod to its scarcity as a resource.

A 99.5% pure rubidium carbonate can generate an astonishing $1.4-1.5 million per tonne.

If a rubidium resource were to have an average grade of 1% Rb2CO3, Aldoro says an economic review shows that resource would have an in situ value of $10,000/t before recoveries during mining and processing.

 

 

 

This article was developed in collaboration with Aldoro 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.