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Resources Top 5: Leaping into Hidden Lake for lithium, and copper hunting in Tassie
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- Loyal Lithium is kicking off its big lithium hunt in Canada’s Hidden Lake
- Stellar Resources makes copper discovery in Tassie
- And it’s Quarterly Activities Reports a-go-go for EQN and OKJ
Here are the biggest small cap resources winners in early trade, Thursday August 3.
LOYAL LITHIUM (ASX:LLI)
Freshly relisted Loyal Lithium is leading the resources pack this morning, with news it’s initiated a comprehensive exploration program at its recently acquired Hidden Lake project in lithium-rich Canada.
The Hidden Lake project is in the emerging Yellowknife Lithium Belt in the glacial, northwest part of the country.
Some 315 untested individual pegmatite outcrops have been by the company identified via high-resolution satellite imagery.
These, Loyal Lithium notes, are in addition to four other main spodumene-rich dykes, which have a drill and channel tested cumulative strike length of 2,250m and remain open along strike and depth.
“With the first phase of our exploration program now underway, we can immediately see the potential of this underexplored project,” MD Adam Ritchie says.
“The impressive historical metallurgical results are likely a product of the metasediment geological setting, with simple minerology resulting in large spodumene crystals throughout the pegmatites.”
STELLAR RESOURCES (ASX:SRZ)
Stellar Resources has intersected a broad copper-bearing stockwork zone at the North Scamander prospect in north-east Tasmania.
The discovery confirms the presence of a significant hydrothermal system at depth under the site’s historic drilling locations.
The company notes that the hole has now intercepted a total of over 212m of mineralisation including the newly discovered copper-bearing stockwork zone and the upper Zn-Pb-Cu mineralised vein and breccia zone.
It’s interpreted the two styles of mineralisation as being the upper and lower parts of the same metal-rich granite-related hydrothermal system.
The company writes: “Following 38.6m of visually significant Zn-Pb-Cu mineralisation (announced 28 June 2023), North Scamander exploration drillhole NSD005 has since intersected 160m of pyrrhotite +/- chalcopyrite stockwork veining from 349m, and 14m of weaker pyrrhotite +/- chalcopyrite stockwork veining from 564m.”
Further, regarding the chalcopyrite mineralisation, this could be seen as a possible “near-miss” indicator of a potential tin system, or as the low-grade margins to a copper-dominant system.
In any case, Stellar’s executive director, Gary Fietz said: “All the signs point towards an emerging base metals discovery on Tasmania’s east coast”.
EQUINOX RESOURCES (ASX:EQN)
(Up on no news)
The explorer, while based in Pilbara’s iron ore region is also delving into Canadian lithium. In fact, it has a long history of interest in the country’s pegmatite bearing provinces.
Earlier this week it released its Quarterly Activities Report for the quarter ended June 30.
That highlighted the CEO’s site visits to Dome Lake and Larder Lake in Ontario where the company has spied more than 310 potential areas of interest for lithium and rare earths opportunities.
The report also updates its assessment of the Hamersley Iron Ore project in the Pilbara, for which the company has developmental interest that’s currently manifested in an ongoing application process.
OAKAJEE CORPORATION (ASX:OKJ)
(Up on no news)
Another report card for another explorer.
The company has been continuing its lithium exploration at the Paynes Find project in Western Australia, as well as exploration planning at its Birrindudu nickel project in the Northern Territory.
In terms of its finances, at quarter’s end the company held a balance of $1,950,317 in liquid assets, including $1,466,317 in cash and shares held in listed entities with a market value of $484,000.
During the quarter, the company sold 1,000,000 shares in Atlantic Lithium Ltd, receiving gross proceeds of $585,080, and purchased 200,000 shares in Azure Minerals Limited.
(Up on no news)
Like much of the ASX, Tambourah was flailing yesterday.
But perhaps the market was simply picking up on the news the company is raising $3.7m at 23.5c per share — a 30.9% discount to the last closing price – to fund aggressive drilling of its Pilbara lithium projects.
That includes drilling at the Tambourah Lithium project and progression of second phase target generation at the Russian Jack lithium project – “to delineate additional high grade lithium pegmatites and define priority drill targets for proposed drilling in Q4”.
Also, the company is making a progress assessment of its recently acquired MRR tenements with an aim to kick off a drilling program at Shaw River in Q3 this year.
