Australian Vanadium (ASX:AVL) has intersected pegmatites in all nine completed holes at the Blesberg Lithium-Tantalum-Feldspar project in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa.
The ongoing 4,500 metre drilling program is to evaluate the lateral extension and depth of the Noumas 1 pegmatite zone under the current historical Blesberg mine.
Drill samples from the completed holes have been submitted for laboratory assay.
Initial exploration results suggest the licence has excellent pegmatite potential which is amenable to simple, cost effective exploration techniques.
Drilling is intended to allow the company to calculate and report a mineral resource estimate in accordance with the 2012 JORC code.
Drill program details
The initial program comprises of 4,000 metres reverse circulation drilling and 500 metres of diamond core drilling.
To date, AVL has completed 9 reverse circulation holes for 757 metres and intersected pegmatite in all holes.
Spodumene zones have been identified in multiple drill holes.
Pre-drilling exploration has identified strong lithium geochemical anomalism over the strike extensions.
Beryl: a rare mineral
Beryl is an ore of Beryllium and is a relatively rare element in the universe.
Results have now been received from a composite sample taken from Blesberg which have yielded 10.71% beryllium oxide.
For context, the majority of the world’s beryllium oxide is mined from Spor Mountain in the U.S. at grades thought to be closer to 1% beryllium oxide.