De Grey grows its King Col pegmatite strike after soil sampling unveils more lithium
Drill chips with spodumene identified at De Grey Mining’s King Col lithium target.
Gold focussed De Grey Mining (ASX: DEG) has stretched its target strike at King Col pegmatite after soil sample results uncovered another anomaly at the pegmatite, which is near to other established lithium operations in Western Australia’s Pilbara.
Soil sampling results from De Grey’s wholly owned King Col prospect have identified a 3km anomaly, with samples containing lithium grading up to 624 parts per million. The sampling program also increased the initial target strike from 2km to 4.8km, returning up to 344ppm lithium.
“The large lithium-in-soil anomalies now span over 7.5km of strike length with only a small portion having any drill testing to date, yet this limited drilling has yielded high-grade results in this early exploration phase,” De Grey technical director Andy Beckwith said.
Previous drilling at the prospect returned a high-grade intersection of 17m grading 2.55% lithium, with spodumene, petalite and lepidolite lithium minerals all identified.
Scout drilling in October last year comprised 22-holes, with the program also returning 8m grading 1% lithium, and 8.63% caesium in another 1m interval.
Petrology results from the 17m intersection revealed a higher grade 1m interval at 4.84% lithium.
“The recognition of spodumene rich mineralisation is a significant geological advance, as this is the most sought-after lithium rich mineral mined around the world,” Mr Beckwith commented.
“The nearby Pilgangoora and Wodgina deposits are both tier one spodumene rich pegmatites,” he added.
The company has planned a second diamond drill hole at the site where the high-grade intersection was discovered.
Drilling is due to start in the June quarter to better-understand the distribution, percentage of each of the lithium minerals and grades.
King Col is about 50km south of Port Hedland and only 35km north of Pilbara Minerals’ Pilgangoora lithium-tantalum mine. It is also near Mineral Resources’ Wodgina lithium and Pilbara Minerals’ flagship Tabb Tabba tantalum mines.
By mid-day, shares in De Grey had fallen almost 4% to A$0.12.