Renforth Resources Inc (CSE:RFR, OTCQB:RFHRF) has updated shareholders on the status of exploration at Surimeau for pegmatites, lithium and rare-earth elements.
"Renforth has hardly looked at lithium at Surimeau, mainly because our battery metals systems, mineralized starting at surface, are the obvious, and the easiest, thing to 'explore' and create value for shareholders,” Nicole Brewster, president and CEO of Renforth said in a statement.
“However, we do have pegmatites and they deserve to be properly considered, separately from Victoria and Lalonde, for not only lithium potential but also rare earth elements potential. So, we have begun that process in advance of the summer fieldwork season," she added.
READ: Renforth Resources planning drill program in Q1 next year targeting western anomaly at Victoria nickel target at Surimeau
In 2022, Renforth only devoted a handful of field days to prospecting for lithium in a limited area and this work focused only on the pegmatites mapped by Metals Tech Lithium and noted in the SIGEOM database in the southwest portion of the property.
Renforth said it has concluded, through sampling, that the Decelles Batholith, which forms the southern portion of Surimeau can have an area of influence of up to 10 kilometres (km), a good portion of Surimeau to the north of the batholith. As a result, Renforth said it considers most of the property prospective for pegmatites.
Only the area west of the Rapid 7 road and south of the Victoria mineralization has been prospected, with accessible pegmatites and granites visited and sampled, the company noted, adding that sampling resulted in elevated lithium, caesium, rubidium, and tantalum at various locations, generally within the sediments near to or in contact with pegmatites.
All samples taken were grab samples, and there was limited assaying for rare earth elements performed, Renforth has since concluded that any future work with respect to lithium should include this.
Assay values returned range for each element as follows, for lithium background up to 800 parts per million (ppm), for caesium from background up to 169ppm, rubidium from background up to 1170ppm and tantalum from background up to 149.5ppm.
"Not only are grab samples, by their nature, not reflective of the whole, Renforth is confident that the exploration work we did do is not comprehensive, it was only designed as initial prospecting", the company said, adding that pegmatites will be the focus of prospecting for Summer 2023 and will include searching for more 'new' pegmatites, along with mapping and sampling of known pegmatites and the sediments in proximity.
Currently, Renforth has commissioned a lithium targeting report to be generated by spectral analysis of available satellite data, this can be done during winter conditions.
The company also updated on Lalonde and Victoria targets, saying that it is now receiving assay results from the December 2022 drill program at both Lalonde and Victoria.
Results will be publicly released once complete, it added.
Contact the author at jon.hopkins@proactiveinvestors.com