ASX-listed Jindalee Resources Ltd (ASX:JRL, OTCQX:JNDAF) has set an exploration target range (ETR) of up to 700 million tonnes of lithium to showcase the “excellent potential” to grow the resource at its 100%-owned McDermitt Project in Oregon, USA.
The conceptual ETR of 300-700 million tonnes at 1,100-1,400 parts per million (ppm) lithium, at a 1,000 ppm lithium cut-off, follows an updated McDermitt mineral resource estimate (MRE) in February.
The ETR surrounds and abuts the MRE and has been extrapolated from 62 holes drilled at the project from 2018 to 2022.
Summary of the ETR at cut-off of 1,000 ppm.
Infill drill campaign in H2
McDermitt is currently the largest lithium deposit in North America with an inferred resource of 3 billion tonnes at 1,340 parts per million for 21.5 million tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) at 1,000 ppm cut-off grade.
The globally significant deposit remains open to the west and south, where recent sampling of weathered sediments exposed in drainages returned strongly anomalous lithium values, indicating excellent potential to locate additional lithium mineralisation in these areas.
An exploration plan of operations submitted to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in August last year is expected to be approved in the second half of 2024, which will allow the company to significantly increase on-site activity to lift the project’s resource.
Jindalee has targeted a 160-hole drill program to infill the 2023 MRE as well as to test areas currently covered by the exploration target.
Plan view of McDermitt.
Infill drilling update
The BLM has approved the company’s plan to complete five geotechnical holes at McDermitt, which the company announced last month, subject to posting additional bonding for environmental reclamation.
Jindalee has contracted Alford Drilling to undertake the diamond core drilling program, which is designed to provide geotechnical information for the pre-feasibility study and confirm data from earlier reverse circulation drilling.
However, approval from the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries (DOGAMI) has yet to be received.