Riversgold Ltd (ASX:RGL) is stepping up lithium exploration at its Mt Holland Project, which is immediately adjacent to the globally significant Mt Holland Lithium Project, in the Marvel Loch region of Western Australia.
A Program of Works (PoW) approved by the WA Department of Mines, Industry Safety and Regulation (DMIRS) has cleared the path for the company to ramp-up activities.
Maiden drilling
The PoW provides for maiden drilling with an initial, two-hole reverse circulation (RC) program for around 400 metres to be first cab off the rank and an additional three more holes will be drilled if required.
This work will be carried out at the Earl Grey prospect, which is just 1.5 kilometres from the Mt Holland Lithium Project being developed by Covalent Lithium, the joint venture between Wesfarmers Limited and Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile S.A. (SQM).
RGL aims to identify potential extensions to Covalent’s nearby Earl Grey lithium deposit of 189 million tonnes at 1.5% Li2O and to follow up pegmatites identified in previous drilling.
Further PoWs
PoWs have also been lodged for up to 2,000 metres of drilling with up to 20 RC holes of 100 metres each to test priority targets east and southeast of the Bounty gold mine tailings storage facility (TSF).
Providing encouragement for this work are the drilling by previous owner Normandy Exploration and sampling carried out by Riversgold which suggest that pegmatites are present that may host lithium.
RGL will refine targets and drill hole locations once new, recently acquired geophysics and the latest geochemistry have been taken into account.
Map of the Mt Holland area showing location granted and application Programs of Works.
Meanwhile, soil sampling has resumed to generate full coverage of geochemistry over the Mt Holland Project with a view to defining additional drilling targets.
About E77/2784
On August 26, 2022, Riversgold announced an agreement to acquire an 80% interest in the lithium rights to Exploration Licence E77/2784.
Kidman Resources, which discovered the Earl Grey lithium deposit at Mt Holland in 2016, originally identified an extension of the Bounty TSF as the preferred tailings dam site for the Mt Holland Lithium Project.
However, sterilisation drilling between the Bounty gold open pit and the TSF in late 2017 identified several significant lithium intersections, including 17.6 metres at 1.67% Li2O from 146 metres, showing that lithium mineralisation extends east and potentially into the RGL ground.
Drilling data shows that a RAB hole drilled in 1993 by Normandy Exploration targeting gold east of the Bounty gold mine intersected 1-metre of pegmatite logged from 13 metres.
Kidman carried out geochemical sampling for lithium and cleared gridlines for a major drill program in 2016. However, its’ exploration efforts were soon diverted to resource definition and extension at Earl Grey deposit and the targets east of Bounty now under RGL’s tenure were never followed up.
Potential Earl Grey extension
A 2019 independent expert report from CSA Global also identified the possibility for the Earl Grey pegmatite to continue at depth under the E77/2784 tenement.
This target, coined 'MHG' by Riversgold, is interpreted to lie at a depth of about 300 metres below surface and could constitute an extension of the Earl Grey lithium deposit.