Lithium Land: Could this untested Canadian project be the next Pilgangoora?

Benz flags high-grade lithium mineralisation at untested Canadian project
Auger drilling at Kula Gold’s WA project returns anomalous lithium
Askari plans ground exploration to test priority targets at Barrow Creek

Benz Mining (ASX:BNZ)

Benz has identified high-grade lithium mineralisation at its Ruby Hill West project in Quebec, Canada – along with additional high-value credits from rubidium, caesium and tantalum.

Samples confirmed the presence of LCT pegmatite and returned:

9% Li2O, 3160ppm Rb, >500ppm Cs, 274ppm Ta;
6% Li2O, 3470ppm Rb, >500ppm Cs, >500ppm Ta;
8% Li2O, 980ppm Rb, >500ppm Cs, >500ppm Ta; and
5% Li2O, 3810ppm Rb, >500ppm Cs, 324ppm Ta.

Notably, the lithium pegmatite is hosted in the greenstones, near the contact with younger felsic plutonic rocks which are most likely to be the source of the pegmatite fluids.

If you’re wondering why this is important, it’s a geological setting shared by many lithium pegmatite deposits like Pilbara Minerals’ (ASX:PLS) Pilgangoora operations or Liontown Resources’ (ASX:LTR) Kathleen Valley project in Western Australia.

And at Ruby Hill West, Benx controls over 35km of strike where no one has previously looked for these systems – until now.

“Looking into satellite imagery and airborne magnetics data, we can see that the outcrop is surrounded by a very large prospective area which has been virtually unexplored apart from sporadic helicopter supported field visits. This area has never received a drill hole,” CEO Xavier Braud said.

“We’ll be drilling this pegmatite occurrence as soon as the weather allows – we anticipate towards the end of March/April.

“During the summer, a prospecting campaign will be prepared to investigate this area and along the northern contact of the greenstone belt for additional LCT pegmatites.”

Kula Gold (ASX:KGD)

Auger drilling at the company’s Rankin Dome project in the Southern Cross region of WA has identified anomalous lithium results.

The lithium cluster is co-incident with magnetic feature over 1.5km and Kula has completed follow-up auger geochemistry sampling.

The company’s Southern Cross tenement package covers 1,213km2 – all of which is now considered prospective for lithium in addition to gold, base metals, and kaolin.

Rankin Dome is around 130km NW of the world class Mt Holland lithium mine under JV between Wesfarmers Limited (ASX:WES) and SQM Australia Pty Ltd to develop and operate the Mount Holland lithium project – which will be a fully integrated producer of battery quality lithium hydroxide in WA.

Askari Metals (ASX:AS2)

The company has flagged some high priority exploration targets at its Barrow Creek lithium project in the Northern Territory.

A hyperspectral remote sensing survey generated imagery of minerals related to LCT pegmatites and compared them to tantalum occurrences – as an indicator for potential lithium mineralisation.

Askari plans to kick off on-ground exploration shortly to field test the targets, with assay results from the initial reconnaissance field visit are expected within the next five days.

The project borders exploration licences with similar geology held by Core Lithium (ASX:CXO) and Chinese EV battery giant CATL – which is one of the major distributors of lithium-ion batteries to Tesla.

“The geological setting of the Barrow Creek lithium project is highly prospective, and our chances of exploration success are high,” executive director Gino D’Anna says.