A 6,000m drill campaign is under way at TG6’s Burmeister prospect in WA’s newest lithium hotspot. Pic via Getty Images
Lake Johnston is fast emerging as WA’s newest lithium hotspot as TG Metals steams ahead with its 2024 drill campaign
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- Up to 2.18% Li2O intersected from last four holes at Burmeister
- 22 holes were completed in TG6’s 2023 campaign with results of up to 2.28% Li2O
- A new 6,000m RC drill campaign has just kicked off at Lake Johnston
Special Report: The last four of holes from TG Metals’ 2023 drilling campaign at the highly prospective Burmeister lithium deposit at Lake Johnston have uncovered a new best intersection of 17.1m @ 1.66% Li2O.
When TG Metals (ASX:TG6) unearthed a core sample containing up to 2.28% Li2O from the first hole at Burmeister, it sparked a pegging rush – and the emerging Lake Johnston lithium province now has an impressive list of explorers proving up the region’s potential.
Players include mining heavyweight Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO) which has engaged in a farm-in to Charger Metals’ (ASX:CHR) own Lake Johnston project, as well as more recently, Mt Malcolm Mines (ASX:M2M) expanding its footprint and Kingsland Minerals (ASX:KNG) also acquiring tenements across the greenstone belt.
Latest results return a new best interval
After seven high-grade hits from 16 RC and 2 diamond holes which returned up to 1.52% lithium at its impressive Burmeister prospect, TG Metals has filed in the remaining four holes for a new best interval of 17.1m @ 1.66% Li2O.
From three RC and one diamond hole which rounded out the 2023 campaign, multiple stacked, shallow-dipping and relatively flat pegmatites were again intercepted.
They included further lithium hits such 2m @ 2.18% Li2O from 215.6m with the broader 17.1m @ 1.66% Li2O from 203.7m intersection, and 4m @ 1.2% Li2O from 201m.
The explorer says initial mineralogy analysis suggests spodumene makes up 90% of the lithium mineralisation, with up to 36% spodumene mineral content in the core tested to date.
TG6 CEO David Selfe says the final results from the 2023 drilling campaign further cements Burmeister as a significant high-grade spodumene lithium discovery.
“It is still early days, with only 22 holes drilled into such a large mineralised system and each round of drilling results improves our understanding,” Selfe says.
“An initial analysis of the mineralogy has provided particularly encouraging results showing that spodumene is the dominant lithium mineral in the Burmeister pegmatites and the dominant mineral in the pegmatite itself.
“This bodes well for simple mineral processing which will be investigated as we build up core samples for our first round of metallurgical tests scheduled for February.”
The drill bit has started turning for 2024
RC and diamond drill rigs are on location, spinning for an initial 6,000m drill campaign at the Burmeister prospect.
The diamond rig is being deployed on core tail extensions to select drill holes testing for lithium pegmatites beneath those previously intercepted in the RC holes, while further RC drilling will target pegmatites up-dip from deeper intercepts and along strike, testing for continuity.
The explorer says the program will take up to six weeks to complete and run concurrently with soil sample infill and extensional sampling over the Jaegermeister prospect and other lithium targets at Lake Johnston.
“The current round of drilling, just commenced, will target up-dip of known mineralisation and extensions along strike in preparation for the resource drillout phase later in Q2 2024,” Selfe says.
“Meanwhile, we continue to progress with permitting for first drilling at the promising Jaegermeister prospect and other targets within our Lake Johnston tenements.”
This article was developed in collaboration with TG6 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.
