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Lithium grades light up in soil samples as Belararox looks to make new discovery in the WA ‘Corridor of Power’
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- Located in the WA Goldfields ‘corridor of power’, Belararox has announced lithium soils sampling as high as 646ppm Li2O at its Bullabulling project near Coolgardie
- Six anomalous targets refined, with drilling expected to take place this year
- Belararox is surrounded by some of the largest and most promising lithium discoveries in WA
Special Report: Belararox could be on the trail of a new lithium discovery in WA’s vaunted ‘Corridor of Power’, with soil sampling refining six potential drill targets at its Bullabulling project.
A soil sampling program returned strongly anomalous lithium grades from 383 infill samples. The program identified six priority areas ranging from the north to south of Belararox’s (ASX:BRX) Bullabulling project some 50km west of Coolgardie.
The strongest sample from the November and December program was 300ppm lithium, which translates to 646ppm Li2O. The average sample grades from the infill program are higher than those in a similar exercise earlier in 2023.
The drill targets will continue to be defined, with a drill program expected to take place in 2024 after approvals and the appointment of a drilling contractor, while sampling will be undertaken to investigate the lithium potential at the southern end of the project.
“We are thrilled to announce our infill soil assay results have confirmed six highly anomalous lithium targets at Bullabulling,” BRX managing director Arvind Misra said.
“The promising results along a 5km zone, coupled with the current strong interest in lithium projects in Western Australia, further bolster the prospectivity of the project.”
The Corridor of Power
A further seven rock chip samples were taken on outcropping and subcropping pegmatites at Bullabulling with no significant results, though the heavily weathered nature of the pegmatites suggests greater importance should be placed on the mineralised halo identified around the outcrop in the soil samples.
There are examples of discoveries in the region identified from the very samples BRX posted to market today, notably Liontown Resources’ Buldania project 150km southeast of Bullabulling where a more than 100ppm Li in soil sample anomaly proximal to outcropping pegmatites revealed an initial hit of 11m at 1% Li2O.
Buldania is the host of the Anna pegmatite, which contains a resource estimate of 14.9Mt at 0.97% Li2O.
There’s plenty more where that came from. Just take a look at where Bullabulling sits on the lithium map.
To the southwest is the legendary Mt Holland discovery, containing 189Mt at 1.5% Li2O, the second highest grade lithium deposit in WA after the Greenbushes mine – a 50% stake was bought by Wesfarmers for $776 million in 2019.
Over in the southeast is Buldania and Develop’s Pioneer Dome (11.2Mt at 1.21% Li2O), while MinRes’ operating Mt Marion (72.9Mt at 1.37% Li2O) and Bald Hill mines (26.5Mt at 1% Li2O) sit to the east.
Also making waves in the region – designated the lithium ‘Corridor of Power’ last year by former Delta Lithium boss David Flanagan – are Future Battery Minerals, who just 11.5km east of Belararox’s boundary struck 29m at 1.36% Li2O from 38m at the Kangaroo Hills project.
Then there is Kali Metals, owner of the Higginsville project, which listed in January and surged as MinRes amassed the largest stake in the explorer – the continuation of a spending splurge that saw Chris Ellison’s $11 billion capped miner pay $840 million last year to get its hands on stakes in resource-level juniors and lithium rights at gold projects in the region.
Kali has started its own soil sampling program after assaying rock chip samples from outcrop grading up to 3.69% Li2O.
Golden potential
With the 49km2 Bullabulling project surrounding the 3Moz Bullabulling gold project owned by Norton Goldfields, BRX is still collecting more evidence of its gold potential as well.
While lithium prices have been softer recently, gold is trading at near record levels of more than US$2000/oz, with the project’s potential commodities a 1-2 punch.
Infill soil sampling returned anomalous gold with assays reaching values of up to 62.7ppb Au. The results have provided greater resolution over a previously identified anomaly, which has been traced over 600m wide and 2600m long in the northeast of the tenement package.
Nearby Coolgardie was the home of the region’s first major gold rush, discovered in 1892 – a year before the revelation of the Golden Mile in Kalgoorlie.
This article was developed in collaboration with Belararox, 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.
