Aurumin Ltd (ASX:AUN) is trading higher as it readies to turn the soil on lithium-bearing pegmatites at its wholly-owned Mt Palmer Project in Western Australia next week.
A lot of work has led to this moment: the ASX-lister completed a soil sampling program and preliminary XRF analysis over material from Mt Palmer’s Vickers Find South target to inform the upcoming drill program.
From next week, the plan is to hit the ground running with a 1,000-metre to 1,500-metre orientation drill program.
A follow-up program is also in the works, considering a second drilling phase to target other areas of surface anomalism unearthed during the soil sampling campaign.
The company's securities have been as much as 15% higher to $0.23 this morning and have risen from $0.15 at the market close on March 15.
Defining Mt Palmer’s geology
Aurumin managing director Brad Valiukas said of the program: "We are eagerly awaiting the full soil sample results from the assay lab, but there are lot of positive indicators both at Mt Palmer and in comparison to other projects in the region.
“This first program will drill through the pegmatite package and help define the geology, using the XRF results and historical logs as an initial guide."
Soils say …
Aurumin collected 735 samples over 100-metre by 200-metre spacings during its ultrafine sampling program at the Vickers Find South prospect at Mt Palmer.
All samples have been submitted to Labwest for multi-element analysis, with results expected mid- to late May.
Before handballing the samples to Labwest, Aurumin tapped Portable Spectral Services (PSS) to conduct preliminary analysis and check the samples’ lithium prospectivity.
The early findings show a number of targets bear surface anomalism that coincides with historically logged pegmatite in drilling, with intercepts up to 50 metres downhole.
Aurumin now plans to drill test targets VFSA and VFSB.
Time for orientation
Aurumin’s program of works was submitted before the preliminary soil results cane back and is targeting pegmatites logged in historical drilling.
The program cover the VFSB target and approvals have now been granted, while another program of works submission is in the pipeline for the VSFA target.
The explorer has tapped a drill contractor to complete up to 1,500 metres of reverse circulation drilling from next week.
Mt Palmer’s lithium potential
Aurumin recently completed a lithium prospectivity analysis over the Mt Palmer property.
It brought together historical data to compare the project’s geological setting to the nearby Mt Holland lithium deposit, reported to contain 189 million tonnes of resource at 1.5% lithium oxide.
The explorer’s review identified pegmatites within a mafic-ultramafic sequence in the Vickers Find South area in a geological setting analogous to the Mt Holland lithium deposit, and PSS’ recent lithium index work confirmed the prospectivity at Vickers Find South.
Geological similarities between Mt Palmer and Mt Holland identified from the review include:
- Located within the Southern Cross-Forrestania Greenstone Belt;
- Pegmatites measuring more than 20 metres thick occur as sheets with a moderate dip;
- Local geology includes ultramafic units within a broader greenstone sequence;
- Located south of the Big Bell Suite granite intrusion;
- Located in the ‘goldilocks zone’ between 1 kilometre and 4 kilometres from a granite-greenstone contact; and
- Located near significant gold deposits.