Matsa’s bold Thailand bet yields two new lithium provinces

Extensive lithium bearing pegmatites have been identified in the Kanchanaburi and Ratchaburi provinces of central western Thailand, opening the door for an impressive pipeline of lithium projects.

It was only in October 2022 that Matsa (ASX:MAT) identified a cluster of nine visually coarse grained lithium bearing pegmatite outcrops at the Phang Nga project in southern Thailand, highlighting a new regionally significant lepidolite discovery.

Now, four months later, the company has stumbled upon more lithium-bearing pegmatites in two new provinces some 600km to the north.

Matsa says the discoveries are highly significant in that it opens up new lithium provinces at Kanchanaburi and Ratchaburi where lithium bearing pegmatites have not previously been recorded.

The new discoveries cover an area of roughly 6km strike by 1km wide at Kanchanaburi and 2km long by 0.5km wide at Ratchaburi.

‘An explorers dream’

Matsa executive chairman Paul Poli says the company is now arguably one of the larger holders of tenure in Thailand, with three discoveries in quick succession.

“What an excellent result, 6km of lithium bearing rocks in an unexplored region is an explorer’s dream,” he says.

“We really don’t know at this point how big these discoveries could be.

“The area has a huge scattering of coarse grained lepidolite as well as abundant polylithionite – we’ve only just started to scratch the surface.”

Project details

The Kanchanaburi project comprises four Special Prospecting Licence Applications (SPLAs) covering 62.5km2, which are being fast tracked to enable Matsa to conduct drilling operations and test for continuity, extent, and depth of the identified lithium pegmatites

Kanchanaburi is characterised by widespread occurrences of both coarse grained lepidolite and polylithionite pegmatitic outcrop and float while fine grained polylithionite bearing pegmatites have been discovered at Ratchburi.

Plans going forward

Matsa intends to complete a metallurgical assessment of samples from four prospects to determine ore characterisation and potential beneficiation options should a development and mining scenario be realised.

The plan at this stage is to conduct first pass drilling at select prospects before the onset of the rainy season (monsoon), which typically occurs between July and October.

A laboratory analysis of rock chip samples will then determine percentages of lithium and other rare elements as well as minerals percentages.

This article was developed in collaboration with Matsa 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.