Fe Limited (ASX:FEL) has entered into an agreement to acquire the Pippingarra Lithium Project and the Marble Bar Lithium Project from Mercury Resources Group Pty Ltd.
The projects comprise over 360 square kilometres of highly prospective lithium tenements in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.
Project location
The Pilbara is one of the world’s leading hard rock lithium provinces following the discovery and development of mines at Pilgangoora by Pilbara Minerals (ASX:PLS) and Altura Mining (ASX:AJM).
FEL chairman Tony Sage said: “We are very excited about this project especially considering the surrounding lithium deposits which has made this region one of the hottest in the electronic battery space."
Pippingarra Lithium Project
The Pippingarra Lithium and Tantalite project consists of two granted exploration licences covering 181 square kilometres strategically located 27 kilometres southeast of Port Hedland.
The tenements share similar geology and are adjacent to the recent potential lithium discovery by Fortescue Metals Group (ASX:FMG) at Tabba.
Notably, the Pippingarra project is highly prospective for pegmatite hosted lithium and tantalite mineralisation.
There is no reported lithium exploration on these prospects even though the Pippingarra pegmatite is described as one of the largest granite-hosted mineralised pegmatites in the Pilbara.
Marble Bar Lithium Project
The Marble Bar Lithium Project consists of four granted exploration licences east of Marble Bar in the East Pilbara region.
The previous sampling at Marble Bar has returned assays as high as 3.72% lithium oxide, with an average of 1.85% lithium oxide.
Additionally, limited first pass drilling had identified encouraging results including best intercepts of 14 metres at 0.58% lithium oxide from surface including a high-grade interval of 3 metres at 1.48% lithium oxide from 8 metres.
Drilling at the Marble Bar Lithium Project
The majority of the Marble Bar project area remains underexplored.
Systematic exploration will be conducted to identify any additional lithium bearing pegmatites within the defined corridor and elsewhere in the project area.
Acquisition terms
The consideration payable for the acquisition includes 15 million ordinary FEL shares, 15 million FEL options, a 1% net smelter royalty and $200,000 in cash payable in instalments.
FEL shares with a total value of $250,000 will be issued to the vendor upon FEL announcing a JORC resource of 50 million tonnes at 1% lithium oxide within 24 months from completion.
The company is planning a comprehensive exploration program to commence immediately after the transaction is completed.
$400,000 placement
FEL has received firm commitments for a placement to raise $400,000 through the issue of fully paid ordinary shares at an issue price of 2 cents per share, with one unlisted option for every two placement shares.