Pan Asia Metals expands Reung Kiet lithium footprint with new licence
Assays from seven more holes have revealed multiple zones of lithium with one hole intercepting 7.65m of aggregate pegmatite at 1.61% lithium.
Pan Asia Metals (ASX: PAM) has expanded the footprint of its Reung Kiet lithium project with the grant of an exclusive prospecting licence immediately south of the existing tenements.
The licence gives Pan Asia the sole mineral prospecting and exploration rights for the area and is valid for two years.
This new licence area captures an extension to the pegmatite swarm that lies to the project’s south.
“In Thailand, exploration licences include drilling permissions – ie there is no need for Pan Asia to submit a drill plan,” Pan Asia managing director Paul Lock explained.
He said this licence will allow the company to “immediately” begin extensional drilling at the southern end of the project.
“Earlier drilling at this end of the pegmatite dyke swarm produced some of the higher grade and length lithium intersections in Pan Asia’s drilling program at Reung Kiet, and we expect this will continue into , which will be incorporated into the company’s updated mineral resource estimate planned for later this year.”
“It is also pleasing to see that the Reung Kiet remains open to the north and south, and at depth on many sections,” Mr Lock added.
Reung Kiet project
Drilling is underway at Reung Kiet with the goal of upgrading the maiden resource and feeding into a scoping study.
An inferred resource was announced in June of 10.4 million tonnes grading 0.44% lithium oxide, 0.04% tin, 0.009% tantalum pentoxide, 0.16% rubidium and 0.02% caesium for approximately 113,000t of lithium carbonate equivalent.
This resource was the outcome of an 18-month diamond drilling program that comprised 46 holes.
Reung Kiet is a lepidolite-style lithium project located about 70km northeast of Phuket in southern Thailand.
It was previously mined in the 1970s for tin and tantalum.
Pan Asia is targeting initial production form the project of 10,000t per annum of lithium carbonate equivalent.
Peer group studies indicate using lepidolite as the plant feedstock has the potential to develop a low-cost operation.
“Lepidolite has also been demonstrated to have a lower carbon emission intensity than other lithium sources,” Pan Asia added.