Annuncio • May 03
Firering Strategic Minerals Plc, Announces Assay Results from Its Reverse Circulation Campaign At Itsatex Lithium-Tantalum Project in Côte D'ivoire
Firering Strategic Minerals plc, announced assay results from its Reverse Circulation ("RC") campaign at itsAtex Lithium-Tantalum Project ("Atex" or "the Project") in Côte d'Ivoire. Lithium-cesium-tantalum ("LCT") pegmatites within the Atex licence area The lithium bearing LCT pegmatites within the Atex Project area are hosted rocks of the Birimian Supergroup within the Syama-Boundiali Greenstone Belt of northern Cote d'Ivoire. These pegmatites form part of the larger Birimian-age (~2 Ga) pegmatite province within the Baoulé-Mossi domain of the West African Craton, which is host to a number of lithium bearing LCT pegmatite fields including those in southwestern Mali, Ghana, south-western Niger, and Burkina Faso (Melcher et al., 2017). Ivory Coast and the broader region is considered to have significant hard rock lithium potential and is demonstrated by the success of a number of explorers in the region that have advanced lithium projects for which Mineral Resource estimates and studies have been reported, including: Ewoyaa Lithium Project in Ghana for which Atlantic Lithium announced its Definitive Feasibility Study ("DFS") for the project in June 2023 - (EWOYAA, GHANA - Atlantic Lithium Ltd); Bougouni Lithium Project in southern Mali of Kodal Minerals - Bougouni Lithium Project - Kodal Minerals; and Goulamina Lithium Project in southern Mali for which Leo Lithium's updated its DFS in December 2021 - Goulamina Project - Leo Lithium Limited. Firering, currently the only lithium focused exploration company within Cote d'Ivoire exploring the lithium bearing pegmatites, has focused on the central and southern parts of the Atex licence. The northern parts of the licence area and broader region are also considered prospective for pegmatite hosted lithium mineralisation and will be the focus of Firering's next exploration activities. On 9 April 2024, gold explorer Desert Metals (ASX:DM1) reported the discovery of a lepidolite bearing pegmatite from air core drilling in the west of its Tengrela South licence, which Firering believes is encouraging given this is approximately 2km north of the northern edge of its Atex licence and 12km NNE of its key target, Spodumene Hill. The western extremity of the Tengrela South licence (PR-683) shares its southern boundary with the northern edge of Firering's Atex licence (PR-777), and the two licences are geologically contiguous in this area comprising the north-northeast striking metavolcanics and metasedimentary rocks of the Birimian. The Company completed a 23-hole RC drilling campaign for a total of 3,753m ranging from 80m to 200m depth, averaging 163m in March 2024. Although 23 holes were drilled, TVRC0001 and TVRC0002 were abandoned due to poor recoveries and redrilled as TVRC0009 and TVRC0008 respectively. The drill holes are sited using a hand-held GPS (Global Positioning System device) within the tenement areas. On completion of the drilling, the final coordinates, and elevations of drillhole collars are also collected using a handheld GPS. The RC drilling producing rock chips core has been utilised to sample the pegmatite below ground surface. Drilling was done using an Atlas Copco T3W RC drill rig with a 5.5 inch (140 mm) steel percussion hammer to drill from surface to sample through to fresh rock to a maximum down hole depth of 200 m. Drill chips were collected at 1m intervals from the start to the end of each hole. A small split from each intervals was washed, and a library of drill chips collected down each hole at 1 m intervals, and were qualitatively logged (i.e. lithology, weathering, and mineralogy). A sample of the drill chips were also laid out on a pallet on site and photographed. All drill chips in the chip trays were photographed both in dry and wet states, with the photographs stored in the database. All intervals containing pegmatite material are split using a riffle splitter at the rig. Splits were collected for analysis and a duplicate split was collected every 50th sample. A split of the rejects has been retained as a reference sample. All host rock (i.e. non-pegmatite) intervals were also split, and a reference sample retained. All bulk samples were weighed prior to splitting to monitor recoveries, and wet or damp samples were first air dried, weighed and then split at Firering's core yard in Tounvre. The samples were crushed to -2mm and pulverised at the Intertek Preparation Laboratory, Cote d'Ivoire to 85% passing -75 microns. Sample pulps are exported to Perth, via Ghana, where pulps are fused with sodium peroxide and analysed by ICP-OES and ICP-MS to report 19-elements. (Intertek code FP6/MS and FP6/OE). QA/QC comprising alternating Certified Refence Materials (CRM) are inserted every 25th sample and blanks (silica chips) inserted every 33rd sample into the samples stream as well as alternating field duplicates (comprising a split from the RC sample rejects) and pulp duplicates are inserted every 25th sample into the sample stream sent to the laboratory to monitor the sampling methodology and laboratory performance as part of QA/QC compliance. These QA/QC results were assessed upon receipt of analyses, checked and, if acceptable, imported into the Company's exploration database. Follow-up with the laboratory is instigated in cases were any QA/QC sample fails the QA/QC parameters. No areas of concern were identified in the results being reported. The area is located in the western limit of the Bagoé Basin within a southwest to north-south orientated arcuate belt of metavolcanic and metasedimentary rocks of the Birimian Supergroup that are surrounded by Eburnean-aged granitoids, including undeformed K-feldspar porphyritic monzogranites, which are temporally associated with the pegmatites in the region. The pegmatites within Atex are hosted in mafic schists, although some minor mica schist is also present, and comprise a series of steeply dipping north-northeast striking bodies. Less common are smaller east-west orientated pegmatites. Work to date by Firering has identified several pegmatite bodies around Spodumene Hill that were the focus of the initial diamond core drilling campaign completed in 2022. Several of these pegmatites have been identified to be potentially lithium bearing, with the lithium hosted in spodumene and lepidolite.