Core Lithium has claimed a lithium intersection of 107m grading at 1.70% Li2O at the BP33 prospect within its fully-owned Finniss Lithium Project near Darwin in Australia’s Northern Territory.
The Australian lithium developer said that the drilling at the prospect had come across continuous intersection of more than 100m high-grade spodumene pegmatite. This was part of a deep reverse circulation (RC) and diamond drilling campaign that was recently executed at the BP33 prospect.
The company said that the coarse crystalline nature of the BP33 pegmatite will help in the high recovery of lithium by gravity dense media separation (DMS). The lithium developer expects an effective DMS separation to remove the need for flotation and will lead to considerably lower capex, reduced processing costs, and also low start-up risk.
According to Core Lithium, the drill result shows that the primary pegmatite body at the BP33 prospect extends with an approximately 40m true width for at least an additional 100m vertically from previous drilling on the section, while staying open at 400m vertical depth.
The lithium developer revealed that other holes that were completed during the recently undertaken RC drilling campaign at the BP33 prospect also encountered spodumene mineralised pegmatite including 19m at a grading of 1.35% Li2O and 14m at a grading of 1.02% Li2O.
Core Lithium said that the new lithium drill intersections are outside of the existing BP33 mineral resource and therefore are likely to considerably increase the defined mineral resource at the prospect.
Core Lithium managing director Stephen Biggins said: “Core’s announcement today of over 100 metres of high-grade lithium mineralisation located 25km from Australia’s closest port to Asia highlights the natural advantages the Finniss Project has in regard to quality and cost.
“We are confident in having the Finniss Project construction-ready in early 2020, so that we are well-positioned to be Australia’s next sustainable lithium producer as market conditions continue to improve.”
Finniss Lithium Project to initially produce from the Grants deposit
The Finniss Lithium Project is centred initially on producing from the high-grade Grants deposit as an open pit mining operation. It will also involve the construction of a 1Mtpa DMS process plant that has been designed to yield a 5% spodumene concentrate for export.
The nearby BP33 deposit if developed in the future can potentially more than double the mine life of the Finniss Lithium Project, as per Core Lithium.
