Riversgold Ltd (ASX:RGL) has expanded its maiden reverse circulation (RC) drilling program at the Tambourah Project in WA, doubling the amount of drilling to 5,000 metres after hitting multiple lithium-rich pegmatite dykes in the first five holes drilled.
Read: Riversgold intersects lithium-rich pegmatites in maiden drilling at Tambourah
The company has made rapid progress at Tambourah, developing the tenure from acquisition to this first round of drilling in less than 10 months, with early indications pointing to a ‘significant’ spodumene and lepidolite lithium mineralisation system at the project.
Modelling validated by drilling results
“Now that we have validated our modelling that the lithium mineralised pegmatites contain spodumene, as announced last week, we intend to drill well into December and will aim to double our RC drilling to 5,000 metres,” Riversgold CEO Julian Ford said.
“We aim to drill as many of the 40 mapped and interpreted pegmatites as possible before year-end.
“The information gained from this expanded program will provide valuable targeting information for when our 2023 drilling starts.”
Lithium-caesium-tantalum (LCT) pegmatites are the main source of hard rock lithium-bearing spodumene, the primary target for hard rock lithium mines.
Hard rock lithium tends to be more expensive to extract than its brine-bound counterpart, but hard rock projects can be advanced to production in far less time.
Riversgold intends to bring Tambourah to production as quickly as possible, targeting an oncoming lithium supply shortage likely to materialise in the next five years or so.