• The main pegmatite at First Lithium’s Blakala lithium prospect now stretches out over 1km of strike
  • This remains open to the north, south and at depth
  • Drilling at the western pegmatite has also intersected pegmatites

 

Special Report: The true scale potential of First Lithium’s Blakala lithium prospect is starting to emerge, with drilling proving that the main pegmatite extends for more than 1km while remaining open to the north and south.

Drilling has also intersected the main pegmatite at 125m vertical depth, indicating that it also remains open at depth.

The early results justify why Blakala was one of only two Tier 1 priority targets in Mali ranked by CSA Global in 2008, the other being Leo Lithium’s (ASX:LEO) 211Mt Goulamina project – the fifth largest hard rock deposit in the world.

Excellent pegmatite intersections have been made in every single hole drilled to date while outcrop sampling at the prospect have returned grades averaging 1.7% Li2O with a peak of 2.56% Li2O while 12 of the 35 channel samples assayed at >2% Li2O.

 

Drill west!

With all 19 holes totalling 2,300m drilled to date on the main pegmatite having identified over 911m of spodumene-hosted pegmatite, First Lithium (ASX:FL1) has now turned its attention towards the adjacent West zone.

First Lithium (ASX:FL1)
Completed drill holes at the Blakala prospect. Pic: Supplied (FL1).

All five diamond holes drilled at the western pegmatite have returned excellent pegmatite intersections topping out at 89.46m in hole BDFS19.

Notably, hole BDFS17 was extended to test for depth and intersected the main pegmatite at 125m vertical depth while BDFS19 was extended from 197.3m to 325.5m and identified a further 41.67m of mineralised pegmatite.

Visual observations estimated spodumene content at up to 20% though this is no replacement for laboratory analysis.

“The visual estimates confirming up to 20% spodumene along with identification of ongoing pegmatite intersections at the Blakala prospect continue to confirm the identification of a world class deposit, whose resource potential grows with each drillhole completed,” managing director Venkat Padala said.

 

Further activity

FL1 notes that Target Drilling has confirmed the upcoming availability of two further drill rigs and that it has committed to mobilise these to site once available.

The company also expects multi-element assays from the first three holes to be released shortly.

 

 

This article was developed in collaboration with First 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.

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