Latin Resources Ltd (ASX:LRS) has outlined a ‘significant’ lithium swarm, extending the Colina Deposit in Brazil to more than two kilometres long and 1 kilometre wide.
New results continue the constant flow of good news that has come from its now completed resource definition diamond drilling program at the Salinas Lithium Project.
The company’s drill program for the planned June mineral resource estimate (MRE) comprised 133 drill holes across 38,300 metres and has expanded the lithium pegmatite deposit in what the company says is “phenomenal” news.
Standout assays include:
- 13.79 metres at 1.52% lithium oxide from 293.28 metres;
- 10.77 metres at 1.39% from 210.81 metres;
- 12.35 metres at 1.42% from 235.47 metres; and
- 19.60 metres at 1.42% from 114.30 metres
Moving forward, Latin’s fleet of eight diamond drilling rigs will continue to operate on-site until December, undertaking systematic step-out drilling to the southwest of Colina, where the high-grade mineralisation remains open.
Potential Tier One lithium deposit
Latin VP of Operations – Americas Tony Greenaway described the results as phenomenal and said the company was excited to potentially see the deposit develop into a tier-one lithium deposit in the Minas Gerais Lithium Valley.
Further expansion is now on the agenda.
“We will now move some rigs to start testing to expand the deposit through systematic step-out to the southwest from the known Colina mineralisation or what our team call the Colina Corridor, where our deposit remains open,” Greenaway said.
“Our team on the ground at Colina has done an outstanding job to get through the full drilling program that we had planned for the upcoming June resource update.”
Given the fast turnaround at the laboratory in Belo Horizonte, Latin expects to have all results back by the beginning of June when SGS in Canada will start the estimation process.
The company will also further focus its attention on the upcoming definitive feasibility study (DFS).
“Now that this drilling milestone has been achieved, we will switch our focus on site, moving some of our drilling fleet to start drilling some large diameter drill core to collect the necessary metallurgical samples for our DFS studies.
“This will include running the samples through the SGS DMS pilot plant in Lakefield, Toronto.
“While we are all eagerly anticipating the outcome of the MRE update, our focus is very much to continue to advance this exceptional project on all fronts.”
Drill highlights
Latin’s diamond drill program, aimed at providing sufficient drill coverage for the planned June MRE, is now complete, with all samples dispatched to the laboratory in Belo Horizonte for analysis.
The company is confident that the lithium swarms may continue along strike to the southwest, providing the potential to further extend the Colina Deposit mineral resource in this direction with more drilling.
As with previous drilling, the consistency of both grade and pegmatite continuity continues to be demonstrated by the latest drilling results, with the Colina Deposit growing with each step-out drill hole.
Forward plan
A new step-out drill program will be designed to test the extension of the pegmatite structure.
Once all assay results have been returned from the laboratory, a complete database will be supplied to SGS Geological Services in Canada, who will undertake the independent update of the Colina MRE, which is expected to be completed in late June.
Drilling at Colina will continue to operate at full capacity, with all eight diamond drilling rigs remaining on site until the end of the year.
The focus of the drilling will now be split between ongoing systematic step-out drilling to the southwest of Colina and drill testing of several new target areas identified within the ‘Colina Corridor’ through the ongoing regional exploration mapping and geochemical