Dark Horse Resources pleases punters with lithium assays, gold acquisition plans
Large spodumene crystals discovered with pegmatites at Dark Horse Resources’ El Totoral lease.
Dark Horse Resources (ASX: DHR) has pleased punters with its latest assays from its lithium projects in Argentina, and news it plans to secure more gold projects in the region.
Dark Horse owns the projects via its wholly-owned subsidiary Pampa Litio which reported it had previously uncovered lithium grading up to 4% across the projects. Pampa Litio leases comprise 34,000 hectares in exploration licences in San Luis and Cordoba.
The latest assays come from a 105-sample exploration program across the San Luis project. Of the 105-samples taken, results from 86 have been returned, with lithium grading up to 2.35%.
Other significant results included 1.71% lithium from Southern area, 1.13% lithium from Central and 1.97% lithium and 1.91% lithium from the San Luis Mine.
The assays arise from about 6km of strike along the San Luis Mine and El Totoral pegmatite and included up to 698 parts per million tantalum.
Dark Horse claims spodumene is visible in old quarries, adits and galleries, but trenching, geophysics and drilling would be needed to better-understand the mineralisation.
Exploration across the project is still underway with the next stage to involve mapping, sampling and trenching across areas that gave up the highest lithium concentrations. Drilling will begin by June at the Las Tapias mine deposit and comprise 25-holes.
Lithium presence bolstered in San Luis Province
Additionally, Dark Horse has bolstered its presence in the region after agreement to acquire a further five mining licences in the San Luis Province.
The agreement is with Cerro Blanco which has been operating in the area for 30 years extracting beryl, spodumene, tantalum, feldspar and quartz. Cerro has been selling high-grade beryl as direct shipping ore to a Chinese offtake partner.
Preliminary scouting across the projects has identified surface pegmatites up to 10m thick.
The tenements also host several mines including Jose Manuel I, Jose Manuel II, Jose Manuel III, Ezequiel Mario and Cabeza de Novillo.
Under the acquisition terms, Dark Horse will pay a total of US$150,000 in cash staggered over two years, with US$50,000 payable immediately.
Cerro Blanco’s owner Miguel Bauza will also stay on for two years to advise Dark Horse and will be paid US$2,000 per month for his services.
Delving into gold
In late November last year, Dark Horse moved into the gold space in the region after executing acquisition agreements for the PROAR gold tenements in Argentina.
The leases cover 176,500ha in Santa Cruz and a further 142,000ha in Rio Negro.
Dark Horse’s Los Domos gold project is its most advanced gold property in Santa Cruz. The company has undertaken geological mapping and soil and rock chip sampling, which will continue until April to determine drill targets for a campaign that is scheduled to being by October.
Dark Horse is also evaluating the potential of several other gold projects in the area with the view to becoming a substantial gold producer in the country.
The company’s directors are so committed to Dark Horse’s success that they have elected to be paid in Dark Horse shares instead of a cash salary to preserve cash reserves for exploration and project development.
The market reacted positively to today’s news with Dark Horse’s share price rocketing more than 21% to hit A$0.023 by early afternoon trade.