Drilling results at the Salinas project keeps giving cause to celebrate. Pic via Getty Images.
Mining
A gigantic 65,000m drilling campaign at Latin Resources’ Salinas project continues to hit paydirt, with newly uncovered pegmatite systems likely to add significant tonnes to Colina’s 45.2Mt resource.
The near $1bn-capped stock is up an impressive 200% over the past year, thanks to ongoing success at Salinas, an emerging tier 1 asset in in Brazil’s Minas Gerais state.
Project resources currently sit at 45.2Mt @ 1.32% Li2O from the Colina deposit, which may pale in comparison once drilling – one of the largest hard rock lithium drilling campaigns in South American history – is later completed.
About 39,400m has now been drilled of the 65,000m planned for 2023, with 11 rigs now on-site infilling and extending the Colina deposit and testing new regional targets along a 26km pegmatite corridor.
Latin Resources (ASX:LRS) has now confirmed a new pegmatite discovery at the Colina Southwest Outcrop, ~3km southwest of Colina, where on-site geologists have visually identified 17.78m of spodumene pegmatite mineralisation in one hole.
Assays are pending, but the company remains “highly encouraged” the spodumene mineralisation encountered in the diamond core directly relates to the Colina resource and forms part of the same prospective mineralised system.
Meanwhile, drilling at Fog’s Block – ~12km to the south-west of the existing Colina deposit – returned significant results including 13.06m @ 1.34% Li2O from 210.94m (including: 6.06m @ 1.61% Li2O from 210.94).
This supports the company’s interpretation that the mineralisation corridor extends a significant distance of ~12km to the southwest from the existing Colina resource.
“We now have multiple confirmed spodumene pegmatite drill core intersections within the corridor, providing us with a high degree of confidence that this district scale system has the potential to host multiple deposits,” Vice President of Operations – Americas, Tony Greenaway says.
“We will continue to aggressively explore our highly prospective tenement package with the aim of growing our existing 45 million tonne resource base; while in parallel, upgrading the Colina Deposit through infill and extension drilling.”
Latin also plans to improve the resource at Colina via a program of infill drilling, designed to increase the overall tonnage and upgrade the confidence level of the Colina MRE.
Further assay results have been received from an additional 12 diamond drill holes for 3,700.42m of drilling which have confirmed the consistency of spodumene grade and thickness within the Colina MRE envelope, with multiple high-grade drill intersections being reported.
“The Company remains confident that the potential for the Colina MRE footprint can increase along strike to the southwest and upgrade in resource category, with further tonnage moving into the indicated and measured expected in future MRE updates,” it says.
Based on visual observations, indications also strongly suggest that the deposit system does continue at depth, potentially adding further tonnes and increased resource category confidence to the MRE.
Latin has been kicking major goals recently after dense media separation (DMS) work confirmed the ability to produce a high-grade, low-impurity spodumene concentrate after yielding an impressive 93.1% stage recovery grading 5.5% Li20.
Two of the rigs on site are currently undertaking a large diameter 1,850m metallurgical program. The material acquired from the program will be used as a representative sample in future pilot plant programmes, essential for the definitive feasibility study (“DFS”).
This article was developed in collaboration with Latin 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.
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