Premier1 Lithium Ltd (ASX:PLC) shares were trading about 8% higher intra-day at 4.2 cents after securing heritage clearances for the first stage of the exploration drilling program at its Abbotts North Project near Meekatharra in Western Australia.
The mineral explorer, formerly operating as SensOre Ltd, started trading under its new title today.
Premier1 CEO Richard Taylor said: “With the receipt of the heritage survey report and the recent approval of the Programme of Work applications by the Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety, we now have in place all the environmental and heritage approvals required for the first drilling program at Abbotts North.
“I thank the traditional owners of Abbotts North, the Ngoonooru Wajarri, for their advice and involvement in the process.
“With site mobilisation having commenced and the RC rig already on its way, this is an important and exciting phase for Premier1.”
Abbotts North survey area.
The survey area covers the main Buttamiah Prospect where several parallel lithium-bearing pegmatites have been mapped and sampled.
The pegmatites strike approximately east-west and single pegmatites can be traced in strike over an extended area.
Premier1’s RC (reverse circulation) program has been designed to test the depth and extent of the mineralised pegmatite field.
There remain further priority targets at the Abbotts North Project based on the latest completion of the first phase of field mapping, rock chip sampling and soil geochemistry in December 2023.
The results from the soil survey highlighted areas of interest with anomalous responses comparable to the geochemical signature over the main Buttamiah Prospect.
Read: SensOre readies for first-pass RC drilling for lithium at Abbotts North next month
Further follow-up fieldwork will be conducted to assess these new priority targets and plan for further heritage clearance surveys.
Heritage survey and PoW approval
The first heritage clearance survey at Abbotts North was completed by Archaeological Excavations Pty Ltd in conjunction with the Ngoonooru Wajarri people, who are the traditional owners of the lands and waters.
The survey was conducted over several days, with participants from Archaelogical Excavations, the traditional owners and Premier1.
Programme of Work (PoW) approvals have been received from the Department of Mines, Industry Regulations and Safety (DMIRS) for 4.92 hectares of land within Exploration Licence E51/2126.
Premier1 Lithium now has in place sufficient PoW and heritage clearances to conduct RC drilling over the main target areas at the Abbotts North Project.
The first drilling program is planned for about 2,000 metres. The focus is to define the continuity and extent of lithium mineralisation evident in rock chip samples taken from surface within the main Buttamiah Prospect.