The diamond rig is heading to hole two at Rio Grande Sur. Pic via Getty Images.
Mining
Special Report: High grades of lithium brine have already been intersected at Pursuit Minerals’ Rio Grande Sur project in Argentina from just the first diamond hole as part of Stage 1 resource expansion, showing up to 620mg/l lithium (Li).
Pursuit Minerals (ASX:PUR) is developing its Rio Grande Sur project in the Salta province, part of South America’s Lithium Triangle – the world’s largest source of lithium from salt flats.
It’s in prime real estate next to established operations and developments such as Arcadium Lithium’s (ASX:LTM) El Fenix and Sal de Vida, POSCO’s Sal de Oro and Ganfeng’s Mariana projects, among others.
PUR is targeting a resource upgrade this quarter to build on an inferred resource which currently sits at 251,300t lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE).
The first diamond hole of the six-hole Stage 1 drill program nearing completion, currently at a depth of 500m towards a depth target of ~600m which is expected to be reached and assayed over the coming weeks.
Throughout the first several hundred metres, the on-site geologists and drilling team have been extremely encouraged by the geological units encountered.
Of particular interest, Pursuit says, at ~100-130m mark a highly porous sandy unit was encountered with Lithium brine grade substantially above historical drilling results.
The company has marked the zone as a potential location for a pumping well due to its heightened porosity and grade.
Notable intercepts from the first 150m of DDH-1 include:
To put this in perspective, the US Geological Survey says economic brines tend to measure between 200 to a whopping 4000mg/L, – yet most significant deposits that are in operation have an economical measure of between 400-600mg/L or above.
The rig will move to diamond hole two on the Sal Rio II tenement next and drill down similar depths of 500-600m – significantly deeper depths than the existing defined JORC resource.
In addition to diamond holes 2-4, the company is intending to amend its proposed drilling program by delaying a pumping well and incorporating 2 additional drill holes at the Mito tenement in the north of the Rio Grande Salar – DDH-5 and DDH-6.
The proposed pumping well will be incorporated into the proposed Stage 2 program.
“The initial results from DDH-1 are particularly sensational as we progress our initial exploration phase of Rio Grande Sur,” PUR MD Aaron Revelle says.
“With these initial intercepts, we are continuing the significant advancements we have made in our understanding of the RGS Project mineralisation, with the results commencing to demonstrate the potential significant scale of the project.
“With outstanding high-grade brine intercepts at depths of 100-130m and continuing to 500m with grades above 600mg/Li at shallow depths, the project is exceeding our expectations.
“We continue to progress with permitting for the drilling program in the north of the Rio Grande Sur Project, which we intend to include in our Stage 1 program works as we target a significant mineral resource upgrade.
“This is in addition to work at our lithium carbonate pilot plant, which remains on track to start production in the coming months.
“We’ve already received multiple requests for product samples from potential off-take partners.”
This article was developed in collaboration with Pursuit Minerals, 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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