Aldoro Resources has rising hopes for rubidium find at Wyemandoo
Portable x-ray fluorescence analysis of rock chip samples taken from Aldoro’s Wyemandoo tenement have returned anomalous rubidium with a peak reading of 1.71% rubidium.
Multi-element explorer Aldoro Resources (ASX: ARN) has reported that sampling at its Wyemandoo tenement in Western Australia indicates highly anomalous rubidium.
Rubidium is used in a range of industrial applications — specialty glasses in fibre optic cables, GPS systems and night vision gear — but has the potential to be applied also in sodium-ion batteries.
Chinese battery giant CATL is at present working on sodium-ion battery technology, which is said to have lower energy density than a lithium-ion battery but is faster to charge and more resilient in cold temperatures
Aldoro said that of the 275 rock chip samples collected to date, 80 of have been analysed in the field by portable x-ray fluorescence analysis (pXRF).
Most samples ‘highly anomalous’ in rubidium
All but a handful of samples appear to be highly anomalous in rubidium, with a peak reading of 1.71% and an average of 0.24%.
However, the company cautions “that these results are not representative and must be used as a preliminary indicator only”.
Wet chemistry results from an accredited laboratory are required to confirm the results.
Last week, Aldoro said it had discovered more than a 1,000 dyke-like features across the Fairway Corridor within its Wyemandoo lithium and rubidium tenement, with planning underway for a large sampling program.
The company has now completed its sampling at the Loop pegmatite and the two high priority areas where previous samples revealed anomalous lithium and rubidium which were located in the Fairway Corridor.
The pegmatite outcrops in the central Fairway Corridor contain lepidolite and other micas.
Aldoro building multi-element WA position
In July the company expanded its Windimurra lithium pegmatite footprint near Mt Magnet by acquiring the adjacent Wyemandoo with its pegmatite dykes and the Niobe tantalum-lithium.
The company said the new ground contains high grades of lithium, caesium, tantalum and tungsten with rock chip lithium oxide grades up to 2.6%, along with up to 5,610 parts per million tantalum oxide, and tungsten oxide up to 16.5%.
“The highly prospective licences contain multiple lithium and tantalum areas of interest which will be the focus of the project,” the company noted at the time.
Wyemandoo, 80km southeast of Mt Magnet in Western Australia, covers 9sq km.
Several pegmatites had previously been mapped and sampled in the southwest corner of the licence area.
That development came hot on the heels of Aldoro’s announcement that it had identified two key nickel-copper gossans at its Narndee nickel-copper-platinum group elements project in Western Australia.