Torque Metals diamond drilling strikes high grade lithium at New Dawn. Pic: via Getty Images.
Mining
Special Report: Torque Metals’ inaugural drill program at New Dawn – a stone’s throw from the Bald Hill mine — is intersecting high grade lithium with visible spodumene.
New Dawn itself consists of two mining licences that were historically explored for tantalum, which culminated in a resource of 1.04Mt at 160ppm Ta2O5 down to 30m below surface – but the asset was never explored for lithium.
Having an established tantalum resource so close to a lithium mine is practically waving a flag right in the faces of lithium explorers given that it is one of the pathfinder elements associated with lithium-caesium-tantalum pegmatites.
It certainly proved to be irresistible for Torque Metals (ASX:TOR), which swooped in on a whole swathe of gold, nickel and lithium-rich tenements – collectively known as the Penzance tenements – near its Paris gold camp in WA’s Goldfields region.
Included was New Dawn, where early exploration carried out by the company in August returned multiple outcropping pegmatites with rock chip sampling returning an eye-raising 6% Li2O.
The drill-proven pegmatites at the project were quickly interpreted to be a westerly continuation of those mined at Bald Hill, leading TOR to launch a diamond and reverse circulation drill program designed to extend the multiple vertically stacked pegmatites.
It noted in late October after mobilising a second rig that should these pegmatites prove to be the mineralised, it would demonstrate potential for significant scale of lithium bearing spodumene at New Dawn.
The first two diamond holes have returned visible fine to coarse grained crystalline spodumene mineralisation with assaying returning results of:
RC drilling has also intersected vertically stacked pegmatites with spodumene visually indicated under UV light, though laboratory assaying is required to determine if they host lithium mineralisation.
Of particular interest to TOR are the easterly intersections that demonstrate multiple thick, continuous pegmatite lodes which remain open to the north and south on a southeast trend towards the neighbouring Bald Hill deposit.
“Confirmation of high-grade lithium mineralisation at depth, as well as exciting visual observations of shallow RC intervals underscores our confidence. I believe we are just touching on a significant lithium-tantalum deposit probably representing an extension of the adjacent Bald Hill mineralised system,” managing director Cristian Moreno said.
“The western holes have intersected multiple thick, continuous zones of spodumene extending southeast towards Bald Hill, which we hope to confirm with assays. Favourably, these lodes remain open to the north and south, highlighting the outstanding potential that New Dawn holds.
“Our RC drilling has consistently intersected vertically stacked pegmatites in every single hole, with spodumene intercepts apparent under UV light. Having 19 reverse circulation and two diamond holes still pending assay, the company looks forward to delivering positive results from mid-November.”
While assays are still pending for 19 RC holes and two diamond holes totalling 6,628m, TOR is already moving to expand its drill program as multiple lodes remain open to the north and south.
The current drilling has also only just tested a small portion of New Dawn with another 90% remaining untested.
This article was developed in collaboration with Torque Metals, 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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