Pan Asia Metals (ASX: PAM) has kicked-off drilling at the Bang I Tum (BIT) prospect within its Reung Kiet lithium project in southern Thailand.
BIT is one of two prospects within the project and the current program will comprise two rigs and focus on testing the exploration target and recently defined extended target zone.
It is expected the current program will take six months to complete and will gather enough data to generate a maiden mineral resource before the end of the year.
The exploration target for BIT currently stands between 8-14 million tonnes grading 0.5-0.8% lithium.
Meanwhile, the extended target zone is about 800m long and 200m wide and is believed to be a westerly extension of the exploration target.
‘Important milestone’
Pan Asia managing director Paul Lock said it was an important milestone for the company to begin drilling at BIT.
“Following our rock-chip and soil sampling program that identified a new and highly prospective zone adjacent to the BIT exploration target zone, we are excited to begin drilling which we expect to result in our maiden mineral resource at BIT.”
“ will be an active year for the company at our Reung Kiet lithium project, with a drilling program just finished at our Reung Kiet prospect and this new drilling program beginning at the BIT prospect.”
About BIT
BIT is 8km northeast of the Reung Kiet prospect within the wider Reung Kiet project.
The exploration target was generated from previous surface soil and rock chip sampling, along with associated geological observations and results from three diamond holes.
A total of 64 rock chips were collected from BIT and 44 of those had grades exceeding 0.3% lithium.
Of the 44 samples, the peak grade was 2.62% lithium, with an average of 1.56%.
The wider Reung Kiet project is prospective for lepidolite-style lithium and is about 70km northeast of Phuket.
Pan Asia’s strategy is to develop a lithium mining and downstream refining operating to provide critical chemicals for South East Asia’s lithium-ion battery and electric vehicle markets.
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