Tambourah Metals identifies promising lithium anomalies in initial sampling at Haystack Well

Tambourah Metals (ASX: TMB) has unveiled high-grade lithium anomalies in its first-pass rock chip sampling at the recently acquired E46/1380 licence in Western Australia’s Pilbara region.

Initial examination of the licence, which contains the Russian Jack lithium project, has identified significantly elevated lithium, caesium and tantalum (LCT) values from an initial program comprising 41 samples.

Executive chair Rita Brooks said the combination of elevated LCT and tin in rock samples, in addition to extensive historic soil geochemical lithium anomalies, confirms that the Haystack Well tenement is highly prospective for pegmatite-hosted LCT mineralisation.

Information from the first-pass reconnaissance rock sampling will now be used to define specific mapping and sampling locations to test the outcropping pegmatites and confirm the extent and orientation of any spodumene-bearing pegmatites within the Haystack Well project.

“We have made positive advances in understanding the lithium exploration potential of the Russian Jack and Haystack Well projects,” Ms Brooks said in the release.

“We are excited by the opportunities ahead for the company in 2024. Tambourah is well-funded and has a clear strategy in place in relation to the continued development of the Pilbara lithium projects.”

Samples obtained consisted of in situ pegmatite, pegmatite float and biotite-rich reaction zones related to pegmatite margins, with the maximum lithium results of 7,910 parts per million and 4,000ppm lithium obtained from reaction zones.

Mapping and sampling work

Tambourah is preparing to commence a systematic mapping and sampling program in mid-February to examine Haystack Well’s pegmatite intrusions.

The company is also preparing to dispatch newly-acquired hyperspectral data compilation and interpretation over Russian Jack to the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Australia’s leading science body.

The Russian Jack Lithium Project comprises six exploration licences covering 600 sq km in the East Pilbara region of Western Australia.

CSIRO partnership

In March 2023, Tambourah signed a collaborative research partnership with the CSIRO to assist with target generation.

The CSIRO is working with Tambourah to investigate the potential to use satellite-visible and near-infrared spectral layers to identify target areas and the science body will apply one or more supervised machine learning algorithms to identify areas of similar geology types, thus reducing the search space significantly.

This will be the first time this method has been applied to the search for LCT pegmatite exploration targets in the East Pilbara.

The research and development (R&D) work with CSIRO is being supported by a grant Tambourah received in 2023 via the CSIRO Kick-Start program, which helps Australian start-ups and small and medium-sized enterprises access dollar-matched funding to undertake R&D activities with CSIRO.

Ms Brooks said the collaboration will accelerate the identification of early-stage, high-priority lithium-bearing pegmatites.

Tambourah has previously completed hyperspectral data compilation at Haystack Well and the tenement has been included in the collaboration with CSIRO on the Russian Jack lithium project.