MinRex has eyes on the lithium prize with its acquisition of more Pilbara licences. Pic: via Getty Images
MinRex is chasing its lithium dream with new Pilbara ground
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Lithium demand is growing and MinRex is clearly keen to catch the wave as it surges by acquiring more lithium projects in Western Australia’s Pilbara region.
The company has acquired four exploration licences and the lithium rights for a further three licences from Abeh and Maxwell Strindberg that cover a total area of 176.9sqkm.
These are all relatively untested by modern day exploration despite hosting extensive outcropping pegmatites.
Adding further interest, MinRex Resources’ (ASX:MRR) new projects are all located within a 70km radius of the third-party Pilgangoora and Wodgina lithium-tantalum mines – in line with its plan to become an emergent lithium explorer.
The company adds that the new Tambourah North, Tambourah Creek, Shaw River, Coondina and Soanesville projects will supplement and offer synergies with the Moolyella, Coondina East, Coondinia South and Haystack Well projects that it is already in the process of acquiring and its existing White Springs lithium project.
Chief executive officer Pedro Kastellorizos said the geological evidence indicates that all of the project areas host significant lithium bearing pegmatites based on recent rock chip assaying results and the extensive historical tin/tantalum mining over extensive pegmatites.
“Our highly experienced team will be ready for drill testing once the detailed geological mapping/sampling has been completed,” he added.
“Further work will commence immediately on the re-interpretation of airborne magnetic/potassic data to locate the pegmatite on the ground but also defined trends and structures which appear to control the lithium-tin-tantalum mineralisation.”
New projects
Tambourah North hosts outcropping lithium mineralisation hosted within pegmatites that were first identified by Altura Mining in 2013 with rock chip sampling returning high lithium content of up to 1.38% lithium oxide.
More recently, a rock chip sample collected by Abeh in 2019 returned values of up to 2.02% Li2O, 1.75% rubidium and 1,276 parts per million caesium.
Tambourah Creek contains shallow alluvial tin workings in the vicinity of outcropping tin-bearing pegmatites.
No lithium exploration has been carried out within the area though the same reconnaissance program run by Abeh returned assay results of up to 0.74% Li2O.
Shaw River is part of the Shaw River Tin Field located within the Shaw Batholith and was previously the target of extensive exploration activity in 1994 that highlighted high-grade tin and tantalum mineralisation.
Meanwhile, a feasibility study of the historical resource at Coondina completed by Greenbushes Tin Ltd in 1987 found that the area is tin-rich with considerable scope for increasing the historic mineral reserve with further auger drilling.
No sampling for lithium has been conducted.
The Soanesville West, South and Central projects have had very little exploration conducted on them.
What little work was done included sampling around the Magnifique gold mine.
This article was developed in collaboration with MinRex 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.
