Pic: Justin Case/Stone via Getty Images
Mining
There are few things as exciting right now as a surprise pegmatite, with lithium prices rising up to five times this year on the back of a major shortage of the electric vehicle battery ingredient.
And Corazon Mining (ASX:CZN) may have hit the jackpot at its Miriam nickel sulphide project, where this morning it announced it had found indications of widespread lithium-bearing pegmatites.
Initial site reconnaissance discovered pegmatite indications throughout the project and those words we love to hear: “an outcrop with abundant, large spodumene crystals”.
The Miriam project was recently acquired by Corazon, which also boasts control of the 116,000t Lynn Lake nickel complex in Canada.
Its tenement package, currently in application status and in the final stages of being granted, is located 10km south-southwest of Coolgardie on an ultramafic trend containing a nickel discovery made in 1969 which has never been developed.
Word of its spodumene potential is not wholly surprising. It is located not far from Auroch Minerals’ (ASX:AOU) Nepean nickel deposit, where some signs of lithium potential have also been uncovered, as well as Mineral Resources’ (ASX:MIN) and Ganfeng’s Mt Marion Lithium Mine, soon to be a 900,000tpa spodumene producer.
But Corazon already has strong hints of the prized material, which has seen its spot market value (on a 6% Li2O concentrate basis) lift 16 times over from ~US$500/t to ~US$8000/t in a little over two years.
The spodumene was found in outcropping pegmatite in an old gold prospecting trench.
The extent of the pegmatite is yet to be defined, but there is abundant ‘float’ material through the area.
Corazon plans to begin targeted and systematic on-ground exploration once its tenure has been approved by WA’s Mines Department.
It will see the lithium exploration become a priority and progress alongside an ‘aggressive’ exploration program for nickel sulphides already proposed.
The project is particularly ripe for discovery with widespread pegmatite indicators and no work undertaken so fair, with very little outcrop and extensive soil cover previously obscuring the abundance of pegmatite on the site.
Spod crystals at Miriam tend to be 1.5-3cm in width and up to 40cm in length, with the pegmatite weathered at surface.
Covering an area of 6km by 1.5km, the Miriam project was discovered by Anaconda Australia in the late 1960s and early 1970s, with initial exploration defining the core of the deposit over a strike of 150m to a depth of at least 150m below surface.
Previous drilling has extended to around 300m below surface, though more drilling will be needed to bring a resource to modern, JORC compliant standards.
But a lack of follow-up from subsequent explorers – Miriam has not been drilled since the Berkeley Resources JV with MPI and Sipa Exploration in the early to mid 2000s – has opened a clear window of opportunity for Corazon.
This article was developed in collaboration with Corazon Mining (ASX:CZN), 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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