Askari Metals has increased the size of its Uis project in Namibia by 68.2 square kilometres by securing full ownership of a new tenement in an area known for lithium, tantalum, tin and rubidium mineralisation.
Management says its strategic purchase of the tenement known as EP 7626 takes the company’s total landholding in the area to about 380sq km … and it is still on the lookout for more acquisitions.
Under the terms of deal, Askari will hand over $250,000 in cash and $100,000 in shares to AstraIL Dynamix, a company incorporated in Namibia and the previous owner of the tenement. There are also potential future payments should various benchmarks be reached.
Should Askari successfully complete a reverse-circulation (RC) drilling program of at least 2000m and subsequently deliver at least 10 per cent lithium per metre in no fewer than 10 drill holes, it will fork out a further $300,000 in shares.
If the company also manages to build a 2012 JORC-compliant resource of at least 5 million tonnes going 1 per cent lithium, then management will need to return to the well and produce another $400,000 worth of shares for AstraIL.
EPL 7626 lies along strike of Askari’s Uis lithium project, which is made up of EPL 7345 and EPL 8535, in addition to London-listed Andrada Mining’s Tin Mine, which hosts a 2012 JORC mineral resource of 81 million tonnes grading 0.73 per cent lithium and 0.15 per cent tin.
Askari Metals executive director Gino D’Anna said: “This strategic expansion highlights the Company’s focus to continue expanding our exposure to the battery metals sector. EPL 7626 complements our position in the Uis pegmatite belt and expands our holdings to more than 380km2 in a region that can only be described as the best real-estate in Namibian Lithium. To acquire an additional highly prospective exploration licence within 2.5km from an operating mine sharing the same geology and mineralised pegmatites is remarkable, and something the Company is very proud of achieving.”
Management says it recently conducted an initial site visit to its freshly-acquired tenement and inspected several mapped pegmatites, with some of them already opened up, exposing the quartz core and the target mineralised zone. Planning for a project-wide detailed mapping and sampling campaign is underway, with a view to starting exploration of the new ground once work has been completed at EPL 8535.
The company’s lithium project sits less than 5km from the township of Uis and less than 2.5km from Andrada’s operating lithium-tin-tantalum mine in west-central Namibia. It is also less than 230km from the deep-water port of Walvis Bay and management says infrastructure in the region is readily-accessible with a well-maintained network of roads direct to site and easy access to power and water.
With a new plot of land to pick over and the company’s maiden diamond drilling program at Uis to come, Askari already appears to have a pretty full dance card. However, when you toss in the fact that the ambitious explorer is already eyeing more land deals, the second half of the year could be very busy indeed.
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By Steve Kaless
