Large-scale Pegmatites Intersected at Zola
Adelaide, Aug 23, 2017 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Core Exploration Ltd (
ASX:CXO) ("Core" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that the Company's first RC drilling program at Zola has encountered broad intersections of pegmatite anomalous in lithium. Results to date confirm the large-scale of the Zola Pegmatite Swarm within the Finniss Lithium Project near Darwin in the NT ("Finniss").
HIGHLIGHTS
- Broad drill intersections up to 70m wide of pegmatite encountered in first RC drilling at the Zola Prospect in the NT
- Drilling confirms the central outcropping "core zone" of the pegmatite swarm at Zola is at least 1,000m long and over 400m wide
- Drilling indicates a series of individual pegmatite bodies up 50m true width and hundreds of metres long
- Economic lithium grades have not been intersected to date at Zola, however, Core is encouraged by the enrichment of lithium and the scale potential confirmed by first phase of drilling
- Recent lithium in soils and magnetics have highlighted additional pegmatite targets adjacent to core zone at Zola
- Second phase of shallow drilling to commence in September to test potential for higher grades in more fractionated pegmatites around the expanded Zola swarm
- The Company is well funded and will continue to aggressively explore and advance its high-grade lithium discoveries
Core's recent drilling has confirmed that the central outcropping "core zone" of the Zola Pegmatite Swarm covers a large area more than 1,000m long and over 400m wide representing a significant volume of pegmatite with elevated lithium contents.
Core is encouraged by the large scale and lithium fertility of the pegmatites intersected in initial drilling at Zola, and the Company's immediate plan is to RC drill test the additional mapped pegmatites on the fringe of the first-pass drilling area.
The thickness of pegmatite bodies is very attractive, with down-hole intersections of at least 70m ending in pegmatite (Figures 1-3 in link below). These cross-sections below typify the interpreted pegmatite geometry at Zola.
This first round of RC drilling of the core of the Zola Pegmatite Swarm has shown that the pegmatites intersected are elevated in lithium (up to 0.1% Li2O) and the magmatic system is fertile. However, no economic grades of lithium were intersected in the first RC program.
Recent magnetics and soil data suggest that there are outlying pegmatite bodies to the east and west of Zola under cover of laterite, which if the system is outwardly-zoned, have the potential to be mineralised with lithium.
RAB drilling is expected to recommence at Zola in early September to define the surface expression of these outer pegmatite bodies followed by deeper RC drilling to test the lithium grade of the fresh pegmatite material.
Zola Prospect - Phase 1 RC Drilling
The initial RC program at Zola comprised 9 RC holes (ZRC001 to ZRC009) to test the centre of the Zola pegmatite swarm.
The drill sections within the central part of Zola support a series of pegmatites of substantial width (30m to 50m true thickness), within a 400m wide zone over more than 1,000m long (Table 1 in link below).
The pegmatite swarm is interpreted to dip at overall 60-70 degrees to the east and strike roughly north-south (Figures 1 and 2 in link below).
Many of the RC holes drilled at Zola intersected pegmatite that included a range of fluorescent minerals similar to those seen at other pegmatites mineralised with spodumene elsewhere in the Bynoe pegmatite field. However, in the context of recent assays, the proportion of fluorescent minerals being spodumene is low in the pegmatite intersected to date.
Typically producing pegmatite fields are zoned, often with quite dramatically differentiation over short distances, so Core believes that the drilling results to date, which only tested the central core of the swarm represent only a partial test of the Zola pegmatite system.
Core's focus in the Zola area will now move to test the peripheral pegmatite bodies that have the potential for a level of pegmatite fractionation that may host higher lithium grades than the central core zone at Zola (Figure 3 in link below).
Recent soil data has added several new pegmatite targets to test, surrounding the core of Zola. These coincident soil and magnetic anomalies are thought to relate to concealed pegmatites peripheral to the main prospect.
HOLE DEPTH Pegmatite Pegmatite Pegmatite (m) From (m) To (m) Intersection (m) ZRC001 121 56 66 10ZRC002 127 100 127 27 and 45 69 24ZRC003 126 87 116 29 and 1 12 11ZRC004 74 4 74 70 ZRC005 108 87 92 5ZRC006 108 1 11 10 ZRC007 108 11 73 62ZRC008 132 76 127 51 and 27 38 11ZRC009 114 83 90 7
Table 1: Pegmatite intersections in recent RC Drilling at Zola Prospect - no significant lithium assays above 0.1% Li2O.
Next Steps at Zola
Core plans to undertake RAB drilling to define pegmatite geometry at Zola, followed by targeted RC on these new extended pegmatite targets including ZT01, ZT02, ZT03 & ZT04 once approvals are in place (Figure 3 in link below).
The next phase of drilling at Zola is planned to recommence in early September.
To view tables and figures, please visit:
http://abnnewswire.net/lnk/1Z91J6IJ
About Core Lithium Ltd
Core Lithium Ltd (ASX:CXO) is an emerging lithium producer focused on development of its Finniss Project near Darwin in the Northern Territory. Core owns 100% of Finniss, a major developing project that lies close to existing infrastructure such as the Darwin Port, grid power, gas and rail infrastructure.
The Finniss Project covers a 500km2 tenement holding and 25 historic pegmatite mines. The project area is about 80km from Darwin Port. Exploration work has generated a near term development timeline, with feasibility studies to be completed over the course of 2018 ahead of receipt of approvals in early 2019 and planned first production during 2019.
An aggressive exploration program is under way, which has confirmed the high quality prospectivity across much of the Finniss Project area. Core's stated ambition is to upgrade Finniss' resource base to fast-track commercialisation options.
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