Latin’s Colina is now a hefty 2km long lithium pegmatite deposit

Extensional drilling has extended the footprint of the Colina deposit to over 2km long by 1km wide, adding even more weight to the likelihood that Latin will deliver a big resource upgrade in June.

The resource definition diamond drill program of 133 holes totalling about 38,300m is now complete though the fleet of eight rigs will continue to operate on site until December to carry out systematic step-out drilling to the southwest of Colina, drill large diameter PQ holes for metallurgical test work; and testing new regional targets.

Latin Resources (ASX:LRS) noted that the step-out drilling will confirm its belief that the lithium pegmatite swarms at Colina continue along strike to the southwest, providing the potential to further extend the resource.

Turnaround time for assays from the laboratory also continue to be fast with the latest batch of result returning consistent hits such as 13.79m grading 1.52% Li2O from 293.28m (SADD093), 19.6m at 1.42% Li2O from 114.4m (SADD097) and two intervals of 10.46m at 1.17% Li2O from 171.85m and 10.75m at 1.17% Li2O from 246.25m in hole SADD099.

“The continued expansion of this lithium pegmatite deposit is phenomenal and has the whole team very excited to potentially see this develop into a tier one lithium deposit in the Minas Gerais Lithium Valley,” vice president of operations – Americas Tony Greenaway said.

“We will now move some rigs to start testing to expand the deposit through systematic step-out to the southwest from the known Colina mineralisation or what our team call the Colina Corridor, where our deposit remains open.”

He added that some of the rigs will start drilling large diameter drill core to collect the necessary metallurgical samples for the company’s Definitive Feasibility Study work.

Growing lithium momentum

The Colina deposit has an existing resource of 13.2Mt at 1.2% Li2O and is part of the broader Salinas project in Brazil’s Minas Gerais state.

Salinas has already secured recognition from Invest Mines – a collaboration between Minas Gerais State Economic Development Department (SEDE) and the Minas Gerais Integrated Development Institute (INDI) – that grants it facilitated approvals, assistance with securing additional land tenure, and the provision of connections to suppliers to support the company’s activities.

Minas Gerais state also recently launched the Lithium Valley Brazil initiative that seeks to transform the Jequitinhonha Valley into a technology hub for battery production and other value added products.

This will be achieved by formulating public policies to attract companies and investments, qualify the workforce, promote technology, and provide the necessary infrastructure for the region’s growth.

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.