Riversgold Ltd (ASX:RGL) has lodged a program of works (PoW) ahead of an impending maiden drilling program on licence E77/2784 for the Earl Grey prospect in Western Australia.
The tenement is immediately adjacent to and potentially down dip of Covalent Lithium’s globally significant Mt Holland Lithium Project in the Marvel Loch region.
The initial PoW provides for up to 2,000 metres of reverse circulation (RC) drilling with the option for diamond tails, allowing for five drill holes to a depth of up to 500 metres each.
It is designed to test the potential extension of the Earl Grey deposit to the northwest where it is interpreted to be open and extending at depth.
Drilling will begin as soon as the WA Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety (DMIRS) approves the PoW and the project receives heritage clearance.
Historically pleasing results
The Earl Grey Deposit is now owned by the joint venture company, Covalent, with owners SQM and Wesfarmers 50:50 partners.
Kidman Resources Ltd drilled out the Earl Grey Deposit in 2016, with assay results published between September 2016 and December 2016.
It declared an initial mineral resource on December 5, 2016, of 78.5 million tonnes of indicated and inferred resources at 1.44% lithium (Li2O).
Kidman subsequently updated this on March 19, 2018, to 189 million tonnes at 1.50% Li2O of measured, indicated and inferred mineral resources.
The Kidman interpretation from this drilling phase indicated that the Earl Grey deposit was open to both the north and the northeast, although it was dipping at about 20%.
The northernmost extension drill hole for Kidman intersected:
- 11 metres at 1.13% Li2O from 324 metres;
- 9 metres at 1.27% Li2O from 384 metres; and
- 10 metres at 1.81% Li2O from 395 metres.
Proximity to existing orebody
Riversgold’s CEO Julian Ford said: “The Earl Grey prospect’s attraction lies in its proximity to the existing orebody currently being mined by SQM and Wesfarmers.
“In 2016, Kidman interpreted the orebody to be open to both the north and the northeast. The widths and tenor of the mineralised pegmatites at both Earl Grey and Bounty would be very attractive in today’s lithium market.”
The company is defining further drill targets east and southwest of the historical Bounty gold mine and says it will update the market once this work is done.