Australian lithium developer Core Lithium (ASX: CXO) has announced a world-class, high-grade lithium intersection of 107m @ 1.70% Li2O at the BP33 Prospect within the 100%-owned Finniss Lithium Project, located near Darwin in the Northern Territory of Australia.
A continuous intersection of greater than 100m high-grade spodumene pegmatite was drilled by the company as part of a recent deep reverse circulation (RC) and diamond drilling program at the BP33 Prospect.
Managing Director, Stephen Biggins, said two other recent RC drill holes at the BP33 Prospect also intersected spodumene mineralised pegmatite including 19m @ 1.35% Li2O (NRC148) and 14m @ 1.02% Li2O (FRC216).
He added that as lll these new lithium drill intersections are outside of the current BP33 Mineral Resource and are therefore expected to substantially expand the defined Mineral Resource at BP33.
Along with the high lithium grade nature of the BP33 spodumene pegmatite, of note are the very coarse spodumene crystals of the BP33 pegmatite, which are typical of the spodumene pegmatites within the Finniss Lithium Project.
Mr Biggins said the coarse crystalline nature enables the high recovery of lithium by simple, gravity dense media separation (DMS). Effective DMS separation eliminates the need for flotation and translates into significantly lower capex, lower processing costs and low start-up risk.
“The outstanding drill result indicates that the primary pegmatite body at BP33 extends with an ~40m true width for at least a further 100m vertically from previous drilling on that section and remains open at 400m vertical depth,” he said.
“Core’s announcement 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.”
