Pan Asia is already eyeing upgrades to its less than two-month old inaugural Reung Kiet lithium resource after receiving more positive drilling results.
Assays from a further four infill holes (RKDD058-61) returned strong lithium results which supports the company’s geological model of extensive lithium mineralisation hosted in lepidolite rich pegmatite dykes-veins and adjacent metasediments.
Highlights include 8.5m grading 1.03% Li2O from a down-hole depth of 29m in RKDD059, 12.7m at 0.47% Li20 from 16.3m in RKDD061 and 3.45m at 1.62% Li2O from just 4.55m in RKDD058.
These results rather neatly support and enhance the current Inferred resource of 10.4Mt grading 0.44% Li2O, 0.04% tin, 0.009% tantalum, 0.16% rubidium and 0.02% caesium, or about 113,000t of lithium carbonate equivalent, so an upgrade to higher confidence Indicated resources might be on the cards.
Visual observations from infill holes RKDD062, RKDD063 and RKDD067 lend further credence to this belief with each hole intersecting thick zones of pegmatites.
It’s not all about resource confidence though with Pan Asia Metals (ASX:PAM) noting visual observations of holes RKDD064, RKDD065, RKDD066 and RKDD068, which were drilled to extend existing mineralisation, finding they had intersected pegmatites.
Meanwhile an extension of RKDD032 intersected pegmatite dykes and veins with variable lepidolite and white mica within numerous intervals between 135m and 181.25m down-hole, highlighting the potential to extend mineralisation to the north and at depth.
Managing director Paul Lock noted the strong assays from RKDD058 to RKDD0061 supported the company’s model of extensive lithium mineralisation while visual results from RKDD062 to RKDD068 were also very pleasing.
“This all provides a very strong indication that we will see a good uplift to the Mineral Resource estimate later this year,” he added.
“The only problem with our results is that it means more drilling – which can only be a good thing.
“We are progressing toward our scoping study and the results in this announcement, the recent policy developments in Thailand and the accelerating growth in global EV demand are all extremely positive for Pan Asia Metals.”
Visual observations point to more lithium
As highlighted by the company, the extensional holes all intersected further mineralisation with RKDD064 – drilled to test for extensions to mineralisation in hole RKDD036 – intersecting 34.6m of pegmatite veins and dykes over an interval between 79.4m and 282.5m along with 17.15m of lepidolite bearing pegmatites at depths of 211m to 250m.
RKDD065 intersected pegmatite down-dip of RKDD013 with the main zones occurring from 111m to 135m with 5.8m aggregate pegmatite thickness containing variable lepidolite and 19.1m of aggregate pegmatites from 251m to 276m.
Not to be outdone, RKDD066 – drilled to extend mineralisation down-dip of RKDD014 – intersected an aggregate thickness of 42.4m of pegmatite in two main zones, the first containing 11.3m aggregate thickness with variable lepidolite and white mica from a depth of 180m to 194.2m, and the second from 230m to 265.5m.
Pan Asia also drilled RKDD068 from the western side of the existing pit to test for up-dip extensions of the pegmatite.
This hole intersected an aggregate thickness of 59.9m of pegmatite veins and dykes in numerous intervals between 14.5m and 134.7m, the majority (46.05m) of which was intersected in a central zone from 49.4m to 103.9m.
Lepidolite was also observed in variable disseminations and clots in these zones.
Further activity
While these results are certainly encouraging, mineralisation at Reung Kiet remains open along strike and at depth.
This will continue to be tested by ongoing infill and extensional drilling, which will likely feed into the resource upgrade and Scoping Study later this year.
Pan Asia is also planning drilling at the Bang I Tum lithium prospect 10km to the north of Reung Kiet, which has an exploration target of between 8 million tonnes and 14 million tonnes grading 0.5% to 0.8% lithium oxide.
This article was developed in collaboration with Pan Asia Metals, 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.