Youanmi New Discovery of High Grade Lithium
Perth, Aug 24, 2023 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Venus Metals Corporation Limited (
ASX:VMC) is pleased to provide an update on its Youanmi Lithium Project (VMC 100%). A mapping and sampling field programme has been completed to follow up a prominent Lithium soil anomaly identified on E57/1078 and reported previously (ASX 6 July 2023). The anomaly is identified as the Deep South Target (Figures 1,2*), where highly anomalous ultrafine soil samples (max 305 ppm Li) define a northeast trending anomaly with a strike length of at least 900m (Figure 1*).
Highlights
- Two pegmatite outcrops, some 40m apart, with common coarse petalite returned maximum assays of 4.6 %Li2O and 3.26 %Li2O respectively (Table 1*). Petalite (LiAlSi4O10) is a lithium mineral with similar composition to spodumene (LiAl(SiO3)2) and is known to contain less impurities than spodumene.
- Additional soil sampling defines a second lithium anomaly that is open to the south and could point to the presence of multiple Lithium pegmatites in the area.
Due to generally poor outcrop in the target area, it is difficult to establish the orientation/extent of the petalite-rich pegmatites at this stage. Infill soil sampling and targeted rock-chip sampling, based on the interpretation of drone imagery, will commence next week, in preparation for definitive drill testing.
Matt Hogan, MD of Venus commented: "The results of the reconnaissance field visit are highly encouraging and warrant further closely spaced soil and rock sampling, with the aim to better define the general outline/dimension of the newly discovered lithium mineralisation and specifically the outcropping petalite zone. Being close to the major, crustal-scale, Youanmi Fault Zone augurs well for the discovery of a cluster of deep-seated pegmatites ".
The reconnaissance fieldwork included the collection of rock-chip samples and an additional 60 soil samples on a 200m x 200m grid. The mapping shows thin sand cover over poorly outcropping bedrock that include mafic/ultramafic and granitoid rocks including pegmatite.
Significantly, the mapping discovered two small areas of outcropping Lithium pegmatite in dominantly soil covered terrain some 70m from a 223 ppm Li Ultrafine (UF) soil anomaly (Figure 1*). X ray diffraction (XRD) analysis show selected pegmatite specimens from those outcrops are dominantly comprised of the Li-bearing mineral petalite, a lithium aluminium silicate with a composition (LiAlSi4O10) similar to spodumene (LiAl(SiO3)2).
At the Arcadia Lithium Mines, located 38km east of Harare, Zimbabwe, petalite occurs alongside other Li host minerals, e.g., spodumene. At Dakota Minerals' Sepeda lithium project in Portugal, petalite forms the main Li host. The Bikita mine, Zimbabwe (Chinese mining company Sinomine Resource Group), is one of the world's ten largest lithium mines by production. Bikita mine's petalite production has recently been upgraded to 480,000tpa.
*To view tables and figures, please visit:
https://abnnewswire.net/lnk/565L862K
About Venus Metals Corporation Limited
Venus Metals Corporation Limited (ASX:VMC) is a West Australian based Company with a focus on gold, base metals, vanadium and lithium exploration projects. The Company aims to increase shareholder value through targeted exploration success on its projects.
The Company's major gold project is the Youanmi Gold Mine, located 500km north-east of Perth. The Youanmi Gold Mine is now jointly owned by Venus Metals (30%) and Rox Resources Limited (70%); Indicated and Inferred Resource of the mine is in excess of 3 million ounces of gold.
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