Aruma Resources Ltd (ASX:AAJ) has delivered 12 new high-grade lithium-rubidium intersections at the Mt Deans Project in Western Australia's Eastern Goldfields lithium corridor, generated from a combination of 19 new assays from a recent drilling program and seven re-assays of historical holes.
The new high-grade intersections grading above 1.5% lithium-rubidium are taken from a thick vertical sequence of mineralised pegmatites over a strike length of about 1.5 kilometres.
Highlights include:
- 8 metres at 1.89% lithium and rubidium from 26 metres;
- 5 metres at 1.51% from 55 metres;
- 2 metres at 1.51% from 26 metres;
- 7 metres at 1.60% from 26 metres;
- 5 metres at 1.56% from 55 metres;
- 1-metre at 1.90% from 68 metres;
- 6 metres at 1.52% from 12 metres and 1-metre at 2.63% from 23 metres;
- 5 metres at 1.98% from 4 metres; and
- 2 metres at 1.70% from 4 metres and 8 metres at 1.60% from 20 metres.
Overall, rubidium grades peaked at 1.43% with an average of 0.64%, while lithium peaked at 1.94% with an average of 0.84%.
Mt Deans multi-element geology
So far Aruma has identified several other elements associated with the mineralisation at Mt Deans, including potassium, caesium, niobium, tin and tantalum.
While the project is still in the early stages of exploration and development, AAJ is already considering potential by-products that may be produced with these elements.
In particular, the company believes there may be potential to produce a lithium-potassium concentrate as well as valuable rubidium and caesium by-products with possible tin and tantalum gravity concentrates.