Latin Resources Ltd (ASX:LRS) has added a 50-hectare lithium tenement – Monte Alto – to its Brazilian holdings, which expands the company’s strategic land package to more than 5,350 hectares in the newly defined Salinas lithium corridor.
LRS secured the tenement, which is in the highly prospective Bananal Valley district in eastern Brazil, through its newly created, 100% wholly-owned subsidiary Belo Lithium Mineracao Ltda.
Notably, multiple drill targets have been defined within the prospective ‘lithium corridor’ and LRS will relocate a drill rig to start an initial 2,000-metre reconnaissance drilling program as soon as possible.
The Monte Alto tenement area expands to the east of LRS’s Salinas Lithium Project in Brazil, to cover further known outcropping high-grade lithium spodumene bearing pegmatites. It has known outcropping spodumene bearing pegmatites, grading up to 2.30% Li2O from recent surface sampling by Latin’s geology team.
Along with the tenement comes an exclusive and binding 12-month option agreement over the new concession from vendor MSL Ltda, which would enable LRS to acquire a 100% interest in this tenement.
Drill ready targets
“We are very pleased to have secured the Monte Alto tenement area, and we are very confident that this tenement contains additional drill-ready high-grade lithium pegmatites,” Latin Resources’ managing director Chris Gale said.
“Our reconnaissance mapping and outcrop sampling of this area has shown that the grades of surface samples from these pegmatites are as high as those from our early sampling to the west where we are currently drilling.
“The Monte Alto tenement is a priority drill target area for us, so we will be mobilising one of our two diamond rigs immediately to this area to commence drilling. We have planned 2,000 metres initially, with a second phase of follow-up, step out drilling already proposed.
“This new area now puts us well and truly in the driver’s seat to produce more compelling drilling results to achieve our objective of a JORC resource. We are also looking forward to receiving the assay results on holes three and four over the next week.”
Mapping outcropping zones with good exposure of large spodumene crystals, kaolinised by surface weathering; and large spodumene identified inside shallow historic galleries/ excavations.
Assay results confirm high grades
Through initial reconnaissance mapping and sampling, LRS has identified thick spodumene bearing pegmatites over an outcropping strike extent of 320 metres.
Assay results from rock chip samples have already confirmed the presence of high-grade lithium, with four samples returning significant grades of 1.27% Li2O, 1.34% Li2O, 1.77% Li2O and 2.30% Li2O.
Results from its maiden diamond drilling campaign to the west, has confirmed that the spodumene bearing pegmatites in the region contain high-tenor lithium, with LRS recently reporting a number of very high-grade results, including:
- SADD001: 4.31 metres at 2.22% Li2O from 83.82 metres including 1.13 metres at 2.85% Li2O, from 87.0 metres; and
- SADD002: 8.13 metres at 2.00% Li2O from 111.3 metres including 1-metre at 3.22% Li2O from 112.3 metres and 3.0 metres at 2.20% Li2O from 115.3 metres.
Testing full strike extent
Once the diamond drill rigs get to the Monte Alto site, five Phase 1 holes will test the full strike extent of the mapped high-grade pegmatite.
The company will then follow up with a Phase II program to test down dip and the further along strike where the pegmatites are interpreted to extend under cover.
LRS is looking to secure additional on-site drilling contractors to help fast track the current infill/ ‘resource definition’ drilling program to the west, in parallel with the first pass drilling proposed at Monte Alto.
LRS hoping to emulate Sigma
While it still has a great deal of work to do, LRS is looking to TXV-listed neighbour Sigma Lithium for inspiration.
The C$1.8 billion capped company is the most active lithium explorer in the region with a world-class lithium resource base which currently stands at 45.7 million tonnes at 1.38% Li2O contained within four separate deposits, with a combined footprint of approximately 105 hectares.
Sigma has a similar geological setting to Latin’s Bananal Valley Project.
Salinas Lithium Project location, Jequitinhonha Valley district of Minas Gerais Province of eastern Brazil.
Sigma is now in pre-construction of its large-scale lithium concentration commercial production plant in Minas Gerais. Based on the Feasibility Study Report, the commercial production plant will contemplate a capacity of 220,000 tonnes annually of battery-grade 'green' lithium concentrate and Sigma will be amongst the lowest-cost producers of lithium concentrate globally.