Reach Resources believes it edging closer to proving up a fractionated, lithium-bearing pegmatite system at its Bonzer prospect that sits within its 100 per cent-owned Morrissey Hill lithium project in Western Australia’s Gascoyne region.
Assays from the first 4500m of phase-one drilling suggest the holes hit a halo of lower-grade mineralisation with encouraging geochemistry, giving the company a confidence boost ahead of plans to double down on the area. It expects to kick-off 9000m of phase-two drilling imminently.
Phase-one drilling tested only a 500m central section of a more than 2km strike length at Bonzer. It was defined by rock-chip sample assays revealed to the market in May that were going up to 2.3 per cent, 1.4 per cent and 1.3 per cent lithium oxide.
The company says assays from the drilling did not reflect its high-grade rock chips, with the best lithium oxide hits going 14m at 0.13 per cent from surface including 8m at 0.2 per cent, 18m at 0.14 per cent from 34m downhole including 10m at 0.18 per cent and a 2m chunk going 0.32 per cent. But it remains confident Bonzer would soon throw up higher grades.
Reach Resources chief executive officer Jeremy Bower said: “Our Phase 1, 4500m drilling program at Bonzer was the first ever to have been undertaken at Morrissey Hill and we’re excited by the initial indications, and particularly with what the detailed geochemistry is telling us. Assay results from the initial drill program should be viewed positively by those with a technical understanding of lithium mineralisation, despite not intersecting high grade results, yet.”
Although the assays are far from bonanza lithium grade, the company says the geochemical signature confirms that Bonzer pegmatites are highly-fractionated, with samples from several holes plotting within the spodumene pegmatite fields on magnesium-lithium ratio charts – an established geochemical method for indicating pegmatite fractionation.
Management says it will double its drill meters in its phase-two program. It will assess targets following the plunge into the Bonzer mineralisation, in addition to other pegmatite targets mapped in the area.
Field mapping over the Morrisey Hill project areas has resulted in the identification of more than 50 pegmatites at the surface through some 2km of strike and 30m in thickness, giving the project some depth in relation to the company’s future plans for a lithium resource assessment.
Significantly, the zones are in the same sequence that hosts Delta Lithium's neighbouring Malinda deposit. Delta’s revered find is about 8km along strike to the east and boasts lithium mineralisation from surface, extending to 350m depth.
Drill hits from Malinda are as high as 35.2m at 1 per cent lithium oxide from 5m, 33m at 1.9 per cent from 218m, 30m at 1.2 per cent from 291m, 19m at 1.6 per cent from 190m, 29m at 1.39 per cent from 121m and 35.2m at 1 per cent from 5m.
Delta’s first pass metallurgical testing indicated high-grade lithium oxide concentrates can be produced at high recoveries. Results from the testing include a 6.3 per cent lithium oxide concentrate at 76.9 per cent recovery and a 6.4 per cent lithium oxide concentrate at a 60.6 per cent recovery rate.
Reach seems tantalising close to unlocking the Morrisey Hill lithium story. The geochemistry confirms that the first round of drilling was certainly in the right postcode and time will tell what the next holes will deliver.
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By Andrew Duffy
