Galan Lithium plans new year maiden drilling campaign at Fry’s Block prospect
Greenbushes South is only 3km from the world’s largest hard-rock lithium mine, which is operated under joint venture between Tianqi/IGO (51%) and Albemarle (49%).
Galan Lithium (ASX: GLN) is set to kick off the new year with a maiden drilling program at the newly-defined Fry’s Block prospect within its wholly-owned Greenbushes South lithium project in Western Australia.
The five-hole, shallow-angled campaign has been developed to test three interpreted pegmatite targets, which sit within the Donnybrook-Bridgetown Shear Zone.
The targets – located just 3 kilometres from the world renowned Greenbushes mine – are believed to be part of a more extensive, interfingering geological system.
This diamond drilling program has been selected to capture the sample and geometry of the pegmatites, as well as details of their magmatic histories and any potential irregularities in grade distribution.
The campaign follows positive assays from recent fieldwork and highly-encouraging results from geophysics and soil sampling analysis.
Drilling approvals
Galan managing director JP Vargas de la Vega said drilling is expected to commence in late January, pending approvals for the proposed program of works.
“We have land access, a drilling contractor and ideal weather conditions ready for this campaign at Greenbushes South,” he said.
“We expect these three highly-prospective targets to be the first of many planned in one of the world’s most renowned lithium districts.”
He said exploration within the tenement was ongoing, with more ground geophysics planned as a follow-up to historical and pending soil transects to aid in the identification of blind pegmatites at depth.
Greenbushes South location
Greenbushes South is spread across an area of approximately 315 square kilometres south of Perth.
The tenements are located along the trace of the Donnybrook-Bridgetown Shear Zone which hosts lithium-bearing pegmatites at the Greenbushes lithium mine.
Greenbushes is currently the largest hard-rock lithium mine in the world and has been in production since 1983.
It is operated by Talison Lithium Pty Ltd, a private company now owned by joint venture partners Tianqi Lithium Corporation and IGO (ASX: IGO) (51%) and Albemarle Corporation (49%).
In March, an airborne geophysics survey was flown to develop pegmatite targets for all of Galan’s tenements in the area.
In August, a pegmatite associated with spodumene-bearing rocks was discovered at Fry’s Block and was followed up with geological mapping and soil sampling to determine potential drill targets.