AVZ Minerals has delivered a suite of broad lithium intersections including 144.5m at 1.75 per cent from 13.5m and 172.3m going 1.57 per cent from 48.5m at its monster Manono hard-rock lithium and tin project in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Four more extensional diamond drill holes have been knocked over during a probe at its centrepiece Roche Dure deposit as the company looks to bolster its battery metal inventory.
The company says 58 samples from the campaign yielded lithium grades of more than 2 per cent, whilst a pair of specimens returned bumper results of over 3 per cent.
The campaign's best grade came in the form of a 1.3m section running a hefty 3.41 per cent lithium from a depth of just 8.7m.
Management believes the recently completed program highlights the operation’s massive exploration upside with its latest holes proving the site’s high-grade mineralisation continues both along strike and down dip of its current open pit design.
AVZ has now completed 33 holes in its latest campaign dispatching 25 to an assay laboratory in Perth for comprehensive analysis.
The Perth-based company has hailed its Roche Dure deposit as the world’s largest undeveloped hard-rock lithium asset.
According to AVZ, Roche Dure holds a 401 million tonnes resource running a solid grade of 1.65 per cent lithium oxide. The JORC-compliant mineral reserve at Manono currently sits at 132 million tonnes going 1.63 per cent lithium oxide.
On its raw numbers the under-developed deposit appears on track to eclipse Australia’s two major lithium assets, the world renowned Greenbushes and Pilgangoora. The WA projects claim resources of roughly 196Mt and 309Mt respectively, numbers that could be put into the shadows should Roche Dure deliver on its potential.
The company says it plans on awaking the monster that is Manono through a flurry of drilling at Roche Dure and has already begun looking further afield to nearby zones.
AVZ completed a 4.5 million tonne per annum definitive feasibility study of the project in 2020 and is now awaiting a mining licence from the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo in order to to kick off activity on an envisoned open pit lithium, tin and tantalum mine.
The company says the project is strategically placed to deliver a clean and sustainable source of lithium that could make a solid dent on global demand.
A recent study by the International Energy Agency suggests the move towards a net-zero economy could, in 2050, drive demand for lithium up to 50 times that of 2020 requirements.
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