Zeus Resources Ltd (ASX: ZEU) has completed a geochemical anomaly testing programme and commenced a Phase 1 drilling programme at its Mortimer Hills Lithium Project (E09/2147), approximately 130 km northeast of Gascoyne Junction in Western Australia.
“This is the first drilling campaign since the company successfully got reinstated to official trading in February 2023. The Board of the company is extremely excited about the commencement of Phase 1 drilling program,” said Jian (Daniel) Liu, Executive Director of Zeus.
Rare-earth and lithium bearing pegmatites have been identified on the Mortimer Hill Project and in particular at the nearby Yinnietharra Lithium Project being developed by DLI, in the vicinity of the Thirty Three supersuite granites in the area.
DLI’s Yinnietharra Project immediately to the west of Zeus’ E09/2147 tenement has identified the Thirty-Three Supersuite as a fertile parent granitoid with the potential to generate LCT Pegmatite swarms up to 500m to 3,000m out from the parent granitoid.
The Thirty-Three Supersuite and Morrissey Metamorphic Suite extend east-southeast from the Yinnietharra Project (DLI) into Zeus’ tenement. Zeus therefore considers that E09/2147 has substantial potential LCT pegmatite mineralisation.
Extensive tourmaline alteration of the country-rock found within the tenement also suggests the Thirty-Three Supersuite is highly fractionated and has the potential to generate LCT pegmatites.
Recent Exploration
At the Pegmatite Creek Prospect numerous pegmatites have been exposed by erosion along the flanks of the intrusive granite.
Earlier this month Zeus’ geologists commenced a reconnaissance gridded soil geochemical survey using a hand-held portable XRF (pXRF) over the extent of the planned Phase 1 and Phase 2 drilling to determine if the pXRF provided sufficient geochemical data to identify pegmatites buried below surficial soils.
Lithium, being a light element with an atomic mass of just 6.9, cannot be detected by an XRF so other indicator elements associated with lithium bearing pegmatites including rubidium (Rb), cerium (Ce), tantalum (Ta) and tin (Sn) are used as proxies for lithium.
Several anomalous Sn and Ce zones were identified during this pXRF survey, some of which will be tested in this first phase of drilling. Several new pegmatite outcrops with anomalous geochemistry and extensive tourmaline float at the surface were also found during this survey (Figure 4). This pXRF survey is ongoing.
Zeus intends to progressively RC drill on an appropriate grid, along strike of the Yinnietharra Lithium Project (DLI) pegmatites, along the contact between the Thirty Three supersuite granites and the Pooranoo Metamorphics.
The initial drilling will concentrate directly on the mapped pegmatites centrally located in E09/2147 as well as the new outcrops with geochemical anomalies identified during the hand-held pXRF survey across the granite greenstone contact in the northwest of E09/2147, close to DLI’s Yinnietharra tenement.
The number of holes drilled at each of the four main target areas, and therefore the total metres drilled in the programme, will depend on the quantity and quality of any pegmatites intersected during the drilling but the current expectation is that approximately 1,700m will be drilled during this first phase.
This drilling will allow Zeus’ geologists gain a better understanding of the continuity, chemical zoning, and structural controls of the pegmatites within the tenement and provide all the necessary data required to target the next phase of drilling.
All the drilling will be Reverse Circulation (RC) with the holes inclined at 60 degrees to the west. The hole depths and spacing along the section lines is designed to have 100% horizontal coverage such that the base of a hole is directly below the collar of the next hole along the section line. This configuration ensures that any vertical pegmatites or dipping towards the east (as indicated by the field mapping) will be intersected by this drilling.
For further information please visit: https://www.zeusresources.com/
