Power Minerals kicks off drill campaign at Argentine lithium brine target
Drilling at Incahuasi will comprise two diamond holes for 1,000m to generate a maiden resource.
Adelaide-based Power Minerals (ASX: PNN) is beginning definition drilling with the aim of upgrading the existing resource at its Salta lithium brine project in northwest Argentina.
Drilling will start at the Incahuasi salar (or salt lake) and then progress to the Pocitos and Rincon salares.
At Incahuasi, two diamond drill holes, for a total of 1,000m, have been designed to confirm a maiden resource estimate for that target.
The Salta project consists of five salares within seven mining leases totalling 147,07sq km.
Drilling next to Chinese lithium giant’s project
Incahuasi is adjacent to the ground held by Ganfeng Lithium, which is the world’s third largest and China’s largest lithium compounds producer.
Ganfeng is also the largest lithium metals producer globally in terms of production.
The giant announced two months ago it was buying privately owned Lithia Inc for US$962 million to acquire similar ground in Salta province
Once drilling has been completed at Incahuasi, the campaign is planned to progress to the Pocitos and Rincon salares.
Power will use the results of its Vertical Electrical Sounding (VES) geophysical survey along with the company’s previous geophysics surveys and lithium exploration database to refine its drill targeting and planning at the three salares.
Fresh water being sought in arid region
The results of the VES survey will be used to assess potential lithium brine under alluvial fans adjacent to the salares, and also to evaluate potential for near-surface freshwater aquifers in the alluvial fans.
“Fresh water is a highly valuable resource in the arid Puna region of Argentina and is a critical input to possible future Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE) processing operations at the Salta project,” the company says.
Pocitos salar is located adjacent to rail and road infrastructure, a gas pipeline, and a local community.
The Rincon salar hosts an existing JORC Mineral Resource and the proposed drilling here will target the Rincon North area, with the aim of adding to the Rincon JORC resource.
Power’s previous drilling at Rincon was to depths of around 130m.
The company now plans to drill to depths in excess of 300m in its upcoming drilling, in line with the approach taken by neighbouring lithium companies, to maximise the resource expansion potential at the Rincon salar.