European Lithium Ltd (ASX:EUR) is buoyed by the progress of phase-2 resource extension drilling at Wolfsberg Lithium Project in Austria that returned pegmatite intersections up to 1.91 metres of true thickness with up to 2.4% Li2O and is expected to lead to a resource upgrade after
With results such as these, the company is confident of achieving its resource update aim of 11 million tonnes at 1% Li2O and then conversion into reserves when a mining schedule is completed.
Part of DFS
The ambitious infill drill campaign is part of Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS) work at Wolfsberg with 20 drill holes completed for a total of 7,925 metres of core.
After mobilising a second drill rig from GEOPS at the end of May to rapidly increase coring, EUR continues to achieve a high level of average drill speed and core recovery.
“Potential to mirror Zone 1”
Chairman Tony Sage said: “Results confirm the potential of Zone 2 to mirror the resources declared in Zone 1. The existence of Zone 2 and its potential for future development has been shown and announced as well.
"The company continues to develop a post-DFS strategy to target Zone 2 exploration during the active production cycle.
"This will be based on the current project development to be shown in the DFS and fast track now the conversion into an active operation, but the future Zone 2 development will be linked to operational cash flow avoiding CAPEX to be spent on resource drilling.”
The aim of the infill program is to increase the existing JORC reserves for the DFS and show extensions of the ore body for future drilling programs.
High lithium grades
Pegmatite intersections have been encountered with a true thickness of up to 1.91 metres.
Two out of six sample batches have been analysed by independent laboratory ALS Ireland and geochemical analysis show Li2O grades up to 2.4%.
A pegmatite intersection in drill hole P18-11 at 322 metres with a true thickness of 1.60 metres.
Core logging is underway simultaneous with all core cutting, sampling and labelling completed in-house prior to dispatch to the independent laboratory in Ireland.
“Highly promising outcome”
CEO Dietrich Wanke said: “It is an excellent performance by all partners working on the drilling program to achieve the highly promising outcome as part of our Definite Feasibility Study (DFS).
"Especially, the true thickness of up to 1.91 metres with a grade reaching 2.4% in Li2O content shows the promising upside potential of our lithium deposit near Wolfsberg in Austria.
"The ongoing metallurgic Locked Cycle Tests will provide the company the essential QA/QC to ensure sustainable long-term production for battery lithium products at highest standards.
"I want to express our special thanks and appreciation to all staff and contractors involved to achieve that outcome within time and budget.”
Resource update progressing
EUR anticipates that the resource update will be completed and subsequently released in September 2021.
The company said: “Results from ongoing Locked Cycle Tests are as expected and will form an essential part of our Quality Assurance and Quality Control (QA/QC) to ensure our metallurgic process was highly optimised for the pegmatites being mined from the Wolfsberg Project.
“All data abbreviated from the metallurgic test-work carried out in 2019/20 from the Wolfsberg ore mined in bulk and sent to Dorfner Anzaplan’s for processing through the purpose-built pilot processing plant in Germany, will be used in a final report and be an integral part of the DFS to assist with tailoring the future process plant facilities.”