お知らせ • Jun 29
Metals Australia Ltd Announces the Diamond Drilling Program Has Commenced Testing Key Battery Minerals Targets At the Company's Manindi Project
Metals Australia Ltd. announced that the diamond drilling program has commenced testing key battery minerals targets at the Company's Manindi Project. Manindi is located 20 km southwest of Youanmi in the Murchison District of Western Australia. The diamond drilling program will include three holes for up to 700m, specifically testing the three battery minerals resource targets that have been identified at Manindi that include: Extensions of the Foundation Pegmatite at depth below previous, high-grade lithium-rubidium intersections (e.g., 11m @ 1.23% Li2O, 0.31% Rb from 16m in MNRC045, including 5m @ 1.47% Li2O, 0.30% Rb from 16m, and incl. 2m @ 1.73% Li2O, 0.64% Rb from 25m), Strike and depth extensions to the southeast extensions of the high-grade zinc with copper mineralisation intersected at the Kultarr Zinc-Copper Prospect of 68m @ 3.09% Zn, 0.20% Cu from 89m in MNRC070, incl. 24.0m @ 6.47% Zn, 0.29% Cu from 100m, and, The mafic/ultramafic intrusive at Manindi West where diamond drilling will test below the vanadium bearing titaniferous magnetite intersection with zones of nickel-copper-cobalt sulphide mineralisation in MNRC070 of 82m @ 0.30% V2O5, 28% Fe, 11.5% TiO2, 0.02% Ni, 0.03% Cu, 148ppm Co, from 48m including 70m @ 0.32% V2O5, 29% Fe, 12.2% TiO2, 0.02% Ni, 0.03% Cu, 159ppm Co from 48m and including 27m @ 0.35% V2O5, 35% Fe, 14.8% TiO2, 0.03% Ni, 0.05% Cu, 221ppm Co. Diamond Drilling to test the High-Grade Foundation Lithium Pegmatite Discovery: The new diamond drilling program has already commenced with a large diameter (HQ) diamond hole testing through the higher-grade section of the 500m strike-length Foundation Pegmatite, down dip of the highest-grade lithium-rubidium pegmatite zone where previous thick and high-grade intersections were recently announced, including: 11m @ 1.23% Li2O, 0.31% Rb from 16m (down hole) in MNRC045, including 5m @ 1.47% Li2O, 0.30% Rb from 16m, and, including 2m @ 1.73% Li2O, 0.64% Rb from 25m. The diamond drilling will also obtain metallurgical samples for mineragraphy to determine the lithium-bearing mineral assemblage (e.g., lepidolite vs spodumene) and the relative proportions of these minerals. Metallurgical testwork will also be carried out to determine lithium-rubidium (tantalum) concentration properties. Diamond Drilling to Test High-Grade Zinc Resource Extensions: The new diamond drilling program will also test for depth and strike extensions to the previously announced high-grade intersection in MNRC070 of 68m @ 3.09% Zn, 0.20% Cu, 2.33 g/t Ag from 89m, including 24.0m @ 6.47% Zn, 0.29% Cu, 3.58 g/t Ag from 100m. This exceptional reverse circulation (RC) drilling intersection extended the high-grade zinc mineralisation at the Kowarri Prospect ("Kowarri" or "the Prospect") down plunge to the west of previous high-grade intersections. Previous electromagnetic (EM) surveys show EM anomalies at depth below both the Kultarr (K2 anomaly) and Kowari (C1 anomaly) zones. The high-grade intersection in MNRC070 confirmed that the high-grade zinc mineralisation extends beyond the previous drilling and opened-up potential to significantly expand the high-grade zinc resources at the prospect. Diamond drilling will test this projected down-plunge extension of the high-grade zinc mineralisation in the area where EM surveys indicate significant extensions may be present. The Company previously announced a significant vanadium (iron, titanium) intersection with zones of nickel-copper-cobalt sulphide mineralisation in from MNRC071. This was the first drillhole that has tested the Manindi West target. This RC drill hole tested an EM anomaly associated with a major northwest trending magnetic zone of more than 3 kilometre (km) strike length and 1 km wide, located to the southwest and parallel to the corridor that contains the Kowari and Kultarr zinc resources. MNRC071 passed through a zone of felsics and pegmatite and oxidised material before intersecting a fresh, magnetic mafic intrusive unit from 48m downhole and continued in this unit, interspersed with pegmatite dykes, for the entire length of the hole to 130m depth. High vanadium, iron and now the recently received over-limit titanium values in the mafic intrusive produced an overall intersection of 82m @ 0.30% V2O5, 27.5% Fe and 11.5% TiO2 from 48m downhole that included 70m @ 0.32% V2O5, 29% Fe, 12.2% TiO2, 0.02% Ni, 0.03% Cu, 159ppm Co from 48m including 27m @ 0.35% V2O5, 35% Fe, 14.8% TiO2, 0.03% Ni, 0.05% Cu, 221ppm Co. This zone also included sulphide mineralisation that produced significant nickel, copper and cobalt results including: 6m @ 0.08% Ni, 0.11% Cu, 506ppm Co (0.32% V2O5, 39.3% Fe, 21.9% TiO2) from 59m; incl. 2m @ 0.13% Ni, 0.08% Cu, 779ppm Co (0.21% V2O5, 36.2% Fe, 15.6% TiO2) from 59m. The high iron, titanium and vanadium levels throughout the mafic intrusive intersected by MNRC071 are associated with magnetite rich zones interpreted to be associated with the lower layers of the western Youanmi mafic-ultramafic Complex. The mineralisation appears to be very similar to the Youanmi Vanadium Project of Venus Metals within the same mafic complex 20km to the northeast of the Manindi Project and has potential to host higher-grade vanadium-titanium mineralisation at the base of the intrusive, similar to the high-grade Australian Vanadium deposit near Meekatharra, 300km to the northwest of Manindi. There is also potential for higher-grade massive sulphide accumulations at the base of the intrusive. The diamond drilling will aim to test the key contact zones and will be followed up with down-hole EM to detect the extent of in-hole and off-hole conductors in the area. In addition, a series of regional gravity profiles are currently being carried out over both the Manindi West and Kultarr zinc trends in order to outline the extent of the mafic intrusive complexes and define contact zones for further testing.