Galan Lithium speeds up resource estimation process at Western Basin following high grade lithium assays
Galan Lithium has announced its highest graded lithium result ever of 1,043mg/l lithium, intercepted during a maiden drilling campaign at its Western Basin projects in Argentina.
Galan Lithium (ASX: GLN) is fast-tracking plans to estimate a resource for two Western Basin assets in Argentina’s Hombre Muerto salar after a maiden drilling campaign returned heavy brine and high grades of lithium in excess of 900 milligrams per litre.
The South America-focused explorer today reported initial results from maiden drilling at Pata Pila and Rana de Sal, which confirmed several heavy brine aquifers in both holes.
Consistent with encouraging preliminary results announced in September, all samples from the maiden drill hole in the Pata Pila licence returned lithium grades of more than 900mg/l lithium with low impurity levels.
Encountered within very wide brine intercepts, Galan said these grades indicate the potential for a “significant” new resource at Pata Pila.
At Rana de Sal, heavy brine was encountered from a depth of 83m with one preliminary assay indicating a 39m high-grade section returning 1,043mg/l lithium and low levels of impurities.
According to Galan, this is the highest graded result ever recorded by the company and is one of the best-known results recorded in Argentina.
Potential new resources
Galan managing director Juan Pablo Vargas de la Vega said the results bode well for “potential new, very high-grade resources for the Western tenements”.
The company now plans to accelerate its resource estimation process for Pata Pila and Rana de Sal once drilling and sampling is completed.
Mr Vargas de la Vega said these potential new resources would greatly complement Galan’s maiden resource announced earlier this month at Candelas of 685,000t at 672mg/l lithium.
“These high-grade, low impurity results are the key outstanding factors that differentiate Galan and strengthens our view that the company’s projects have excellent development potential at Hombre Muerto,” he said.
The Pata Pila and Rana de Sal licences lie within Galan’s Western Basin projects and cover large alluvial fan areas adjacent to Livent Corporation’s (NYSE: LVHM) Argentinian tenure.
Galan’s drilling campaign targeted anomalies identified from surveys completed a year ago that are believed to represent the extension of Livent’s brine-producing aquifer for its Fenix operation.
By midday trade, Galan shares were up 8.33% at $0.195.