BRISBANE, Australia, May 04, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Allkem Limited (ASX|TSX: AKE, the Company) is pleased to provide an update on the exploration and resource definition drilling program at its James Bay Project in Qubec, Canada.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Discovery of an additional swarm of spodumene-bearing pegmatite dykes located directly northwest of known mineralization (“NW Sector”).
- Highlighted intercepts include 125m @ 1.70 Li2O from 68m in drill hole JBL-23-048, and 72m @ 1.89% Li2O from 11m in drill hole JBL-23-024. The reader is cautioned that these thicknesses represent downhole thicknesses and not true thicknesses. True thicknesses are estimated to be between 60% and 80% of downhole thicknesses.
- Infill and delineation drilling in the eastern portion of the deposit has confirmed both continuity and lithium grade of spodumene-bearing pegmatite dykes.
2022 / 2023 WINTER DRILLING PROGRAM
The winter diamond drilling program concluded on April 13th, 2023, and consisted of:
Infill and Delineation – drilling within the eastern portion of the deposit at depth to satisfy the drill spacing required for Indicated category Mineral Resources.
Exploration – drilling targeting newly identified outcropping pegmatites to the east of the deposit, IP geophysical anomalies and deep “proof of concept” drilling targeting pegmatites at depths greater than 500m.
Systematic step-out – drilling to the northwest of the known extents of the deposit targeting the extension of the deformation corridor that hosts the deposit.
A total of 130 drill holes were completed between the end of November 2022 and mid-April 2023 for an aggregate of 29,164 metres.
As of 29th April 2023, approximately 6,700 assays have been received from the drilling program, mostly relating to the infill and delineation drilling within known extents of the deposit. Approximately 2,400 assays remain pending in the laboratory and are expected to be received shortly.
Allkem Managing Director and CEO, Martin Perez de Solay said, “The significant grade and thickness of these drill results is outstanding and the addition of a new zone of mineralisation to the NW of the current resource provides scope for potential additions to resources and reserves as we further drill out this area.”
Figure 1 presents a plan view of the location of the new spodumene-bearing pegmatite swarm located to the northwest of known mineralization. Based on the wide-spaced drilling, the current geological interpretation suggests that the individual dykes are oriented approximately north-south, with a 70-degree dip towards the west. The dykes vary between 4 and 30 metres thick (true thickness), with some dykes coalescing up to 85m true thickness in the core of the pegmatite swarm.
This NW Sector of the project is located under between 5 and 15 metres of glacial till, with no outcrop visible in this area of the project.
Drill core observations suggest that lithia (Li2O) mineralization is hosted predominantly within coarse-grained, green spodumene with grain sizes varying between 0.5 cm and 40 cm. Trace amounts of lepidolite and zinnwaldite have been observed. Minor holmquistite has also been observed within the host metasediments in close proximity to the pegmatite dykes.