Oceana greets its newest neighbour Rio with a smile and a survey

Oceana’s Napperby lithium project in the Northern Territory has been cast into sharp focus after Rio Tinto applied for an exploration licence immediately to the south.

The mining giant’s application highlights the growing interest in the highly prospective North Arunta Pegmatite district and is a validation of Oceana Lithium’s (ASX:OCN) move to expand its landholding with the application for ELA23841 to the east.

It also comes as the company engaged Hyvista Corporation to carry out a 1,200km2 airborne hyperspectral survey – the largest survey of its type to be carried out in the NT – to complement field work and aid in drill targeting at Napperby.

The survey will map mineral composition and surface mineralogy associated with lithium-bearing minerals like spodumene and lepidolite as well as their surface distribution.

Data acquisition and interpretation is expected to take between 10 and 12 weeks to complete.

Napperby project

Napperby is located in the west of Northern Arunta Pegmatite province and covers over 1,160km2 of ground split over EL23836 and ELA23841.

EL23836 hosts nine historical mineral occurrences which were recorded by the Northern Territory Geological Survey, three of which are associated with pegmatites of the lithium-caesium-tantalum type.

However, while historical samples have returned 35.4% tantalum and 18.5% tin, they were never assayed for lithium.

Five mineral occurrences are located within ELA23841 with three associated with pegmatites with field inspection confirming pegmatite outcropping.

The project benefits from easy access via the Stuart and Tanami highways along with proximity to the Central Australian Railway.

This article was developed in collaboration with Oceana Lithium, 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.