Morrissey Hill has now demonstrated to host more than 50 previously unrecognised pegmatites with a combined cumulative strike length in excess of 10km. Pic via Getty Images
Mining
Delta neighbour Reach Resources has identified “multiple, previously unrecognised, wide and strike-extensive” pegmatite swarms at its Morrissey Hill lithium project in the Gascoyne.
Reach Resources (ASX:RR1) has now mapped more than 50 pegmatites with a combined cumulative strike length of +10km.
Morrissey Hill is along strike, and in the same system of rocks as Delta Lithium’s (ASX:DLI) Malinda discovery at Yinnetharra, where numerous hits like 56m at 1.12% lithium sparked a pegging rush from big names like FMG and a collection of savvy small cap explorers.
In May, rock chips grading 2.3% lithium were returned from Morrissey Hill’s Bonzer target, described by the company as a “clear walk-up target” and a “very large pegmatite”, sitting at least 1.5km long with lithium bearing minerals at surface.
Reach’s Phase 1 drilling program also recently intersected multiple, thick, stacked pegmatites at Bonzer where target pegmatite units have been returned in every hole drilled so far.
Recent mapping at Morrissey Hill has now identified individual pegmatites up to 2km long and over 30m wide in the same sequence as DLI’s Malinda discovery.
Combining the potential strike length of the Bonzer pegmatite field with these new target areas suggests a total strike length of prospective pegmatites at Morrissey Hill to be more than 10km.
This doesn’t include the potential for additional strike from “blind” pegmatites which have been proven to be on site through the recent maiden drill program.
Three of the new target areas, Peggy Sue, Sunset Boulevard and the Morrissey Hill prospects have all had heritage surveys completed with Peggy Sue and Morrissey Hill cleared for drilling.
The Martin’s Reach prospect will be the subject of further heritage surveys with the Yinggarda people.
Reach CEO Jeremy Bower says maiden drilling at Morrissey Hill has been extremely encouraging.
“Not only have we intersected significant pegmatite widths below surface and stacked down hole to ~400m, the extended time on site has also allowed the team to map some seriously good outcropping pegmatite targets right across the project area,” he says.
“Most importantly, these pegmatites are hosted within greenstones (mafic volcanics) and/or sediments of the Leake Springs Metamorphic package rather than simply granite as is indicated on the regional scale GSWA map sheets.
“Our new target areas are a significant development as they potentially extend our strike length at Morrissey Hill to over 10km across all the target areas.”
Rock chip sampling and an extensive geochemical soil sampling survey, which has proven to be an effective method so far for identifying potentially mineralised pegmatite systems, is now underway across all these areas.
Results from this work together with those from the recently completed maiden drilling program at the Bonzer Prospect will determine the order, extent and locations for future drill programs.
This article was developed in collaboration with Reach 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.
