Positive drill results for AVZ Minerals at Manono Lithium Project
AVZ Minerals (ASX: AVZ) has released results of the initial phase of drilling at the 60% owned Manono Lithium Project, including 202.8 metres @ 1.57% Li2O.
Key Highlights:
- Initial seven-hole drill program at Manono Lithium Project completed and first drill hole assays received.
- High-grade lithium mineralisation is present throughout the intersection of the Roche Dure Pegmatite.
- Assays from AVZ’s first reported diamond drill hole, MO17DD002, returned 202.8m @ 1.57% Li2O and 1078ppm Sn.
- The visual estimates of spodumene abundance logged in drill core are reflected in the reported assay results.
- Tin grades are reported up to 0.73% within narrow intercepts near contact zones.
- Six drill hole results remaining are expected by the end of August 2017.
- Extensive RC and diamond drilling program is planned for late Q3 / early Q4 2017.
Drilling Summary
The pegmatites at the Manono Lithium Project extend for a strike length of at least 13kms. AVZ has named the six largest pegmatites using the names of the historical open-cut shallow pits within the area.
The initial phase of drilling, comprising seven diamond drill holes for a total of 1,739 metres and testing five of these large pegmatites, has been completed; MO17DD001 to MO17DD007 (Figure 1 and Table 1). The drill core has been cut and samples have been submitted to ALS GLOBAL Perth, W.A. for assay.
Figure 1: Drill hole locations.
Table 1: Drill-hole collar summary data.
Results for the first batch of samples, those from drill-hole MO17DD002, have been received (Table 2). These initial assay results confirm the visual estimates of spodumene abundance in MO17DD002 (Figure 2). MO17DD002 diamond drill hole returned 202.8m @ 1.57% Li2O and 1078ppm Sn. Tin mineralisation at these levels within this pegmatite is considered to be of potential economic value.
Assay results pending for the remaining six diamond drill holes are expected by the end of August 2017. The location of these drill-holes is shown in Figure 1.
In all cases, thick intervals of pegmatite have been intersected and spodumene is present within all the pegmatites, as displayed in Figure 2.
Figure 2: Cross section showing MO17DD002 intersecting the Roche Dure Pegmatite.
Table 2: MO17DD002 Summary of Mineralisation.
The assay result for this 12m interval (in Figure 3 below) is approximately 1.46% Li2O, confirming the visual impression that the pegmatite is comprised of about 25% spodumene as defined in logging to date.
Figure 3: Cut drill-core of the interval from about 81m (top of image) to about 93m (bottom of image) of drill-hole MO17DD002.
The assay results show that well-developed lithium mineralisation was intersected by MO17DD002 throughout most of the Roche Dure pegmatite with the exception being the narrow wall zones of the pegmatite and a greisen zone within the pegmatite near the hanging-wall contact of the pegmatite with the host-rock. However, the pegmatite wall-zone and greisen are highly enriched in tin.
The orientation of the Roche dure Pegmatite is reasonably well-constrained by outcrops, pit-wall exposures and mapping completed by AVZ which enabled the drill-hole to be planned so that MO17DD002 achieved a near-perpendicular intersection of the pegmatite (Figure 2).
Although the exact true-thickness of the Roche Dure Pegmatite will not be confirmed until additional drilling is completed, the 202.8m intersection achieved by MO17DD002 is close to the true-thickness of the pegmatite, which is likely to be approximately 190m in this location.
AVZ’s Executive Chairman Mr Eckhof commented:
“The excellent assay results from hole MO17DD002 are a major step forward in defining a world class resource at the Manono Lithium project. I look forward to being able to report further world class results from the remaining 6 drill holes in this intitial program (due by the end of August) and the next round of drilling planned for late Q3 / early Q4 2017.”