A first pass reconnaissance trip by White Cliff Minerals at its Yinnetharra lithium and rare earths exploration project has yielded encouraging early results. Samples of pegmatite dykes have been sent for laboratory assay and White Cliff said it would aggressively advance exploration now at its Yinnetharra project that sits some 100 kilometres northeast of the Gascoyne Junction in WA.
The company said the helicopter-supported first-pass field trip to Yinnetharra was focussed on lithium and rare earths elements across 15 sites identified through satellite imagery and historical Geological Survey of Western Australia, or “GSWA”, sampling programs.
The three-day survey sampled rock chips which have now been sent to ALS Laboratories to test for a range of pegmatitic and related elements.
The GSWA survey yielded strong cerium hits as high as 332 parts per million. Cerium is regarded by Geoscience Australia to be one of the most abundant rare earth elements.
Other historical exploration at the project unveiled a handful of lithium-bearing pegmatites at the nearby Thirty Three Supersuite - a massive northwest to southeast granite unit that runs along the Ti Tree shear zone that has been found to host a series of rare earth-bearing pegmatites at its basement.
The prospectivity of the new ground has been reinforced by some nearby sampling programs with notable results. ASX-listed Arrow Minerals previously announced some uber-impressive lithium oxide grades of up to 4 per cent in rock chip sampling at its Malinda lithium project some 10km northwest of Yinnetharra.
White Cliff only recently picked up its Yinnetharra ground as part of a Christmas shopping spree that saw it acquire a suite of highly prospective lithium and rare earths projects that are littered throughout WA.
The Yinnetharra project takes in a six-piece tenement application set that covers close to 580 square kilometres near Carnarvon. The ground is located in the Gascoyne lithium region and looks to be sitting on prime real-estate with the project sitting some 85km south of Hastings Technology Metals’ tier-1 Yangibana rare earths project.
White Cliff Minerals Technical Director Ed Mead said:
“Confirmation of numerous pegmatite dykes highlight the potential for possible lithium and REE mineralisation sitting within the project area and we look forward to receiving first assay results that we are expediting through ALS. Follow-up exploration programs are planned for early in the New Year.”
White Cliff hasn’t taken its eye off the rest of its portfolio either. The company is continuing to develop its Reedy South gold project about 40km north of Cue in WA’s Murchison Goldfields. Previous soil sampling at the project by White Cliff yielded anomalous results including gold values up to 137 parts per billion from a few hundred soil samples around its Reedy South landholdings.
With lithium prices reaching for the sky, White Cliff has wasted no time in attempting to assess the value of its latest pick up. The global thirst for lithium is unlikely to be quenched any time soon and the market will no doubt be keeping a close eye on further results from White Cliff’s closer inspection of its new ground.
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