Everest Metals Corporation has hit multiple pegmatites during its recently-completed phase one drilling program as it hunts for rubidium to deliver a maiden resource at its Mt Edon critical minerals project in Western Australia’s Mid West region.
The company says its new intersections from a 14-hole reverse-circulation (RC) campaign have significantly expanded its existing target area at the project that sits about 5km south-west of the historical gold mining town of Paynes Find.
Everest says its drilling confirmed prospective targets that were identified from a previous deep ground penetration radar (DGPR) program, in addition to an interpreted north-east/south-west structural trend in the north-east
corner of the mining lease.
The drill pattern spacing was designed for holes to be tested 40m along strike and 20m across strike to define the company’s maiden mineral resource. Three drillholes were planned to enable the testing of individual pegmatites parallel to the main orebody, to target undrilled pegmatites and to test for lateral extension to high-grade zones previously outlined in the north-east corner of the project.
Everest Metals Corporation chief executive chairman Mark Caruso said: “The drilling intersections further confirm the geological setting of an emerging world-class rubidium deposit.”
Management says visual observations from the drill-chip samples showed many pegmatites were intersected from surface or shallow depths, with some of the thicker hits consisting of a 125m stretch from surface, an 89m hit from 34m to 123m and 89m from 37m to end of hole at 126m. The holes were drilled to an average depth of 90m.
When logging the drill chips, the company identified significant muscovite-rich zones and lepidolite mineralisation was also detected in certain intervals. Assays are expected in early July and the company will be eagerly awaiting the results to enable comparison with earlier assessments of hits such as 80m at 0.32 per cent rubidium oxide and 0.11 per cent lithium oxide from 25m.
Everest released its maiden exploration target in December last year, comprising solely the north-east corner of the mining lease – the previous mineralised target area of 450m by 100m. The target produced a range of 3.2 million tonnes to 4.5 million tonnes, with a rubidium oxide grade ranging from 0.23 per cent to 0.35 per cent and a lithium oxide grade from 0.08 per cent to 0.12 per cent.
Mt Edon sits on a mining lease that covers the southern portion of the Paynes Find greenstone belt in the southern Murchison region that is known for hosting an extensive pegmatite field. The prospective pegmatites have a strike length of 350m and occur along a 1.2km interval of the lithium-caesium-tantalum (LCT) pegmatite corridor.
Previous drilling results include 40m grading 0.26 per cent rubidium oxide from 49m including 19m at 0.33 per cent, 31m at 0.21 per cent rubidium oxide and 0.12 per cent lithium oxide.
Smaller higher-grade hits of 2m going 0.34 per cent rubidium oxide and 0.42 per cent lithium from surface and 5m at 0.27 per cent rubidium and 0.6 per cent lithium oxide from 22m indicate the potential for the operation to be categorised as a rubidium-lithium project.
The company in February engaged Edith Cowan University’s mineral research arm to help it develop an innovative rubidium extraction process. The research agreement with the university’s Mineral Recovery Research Centre (MRRC) will represent a key stage towards developing the project.
Management says research activities will be undertaken at the MRRC for up to a year. It says due to the increasing need for sustainable and environmentally-friendly extraction processes, the studies will be aimed at developing a new, innovative extraction technique that maximises the recovery of rubidium and mica.
The cutting-edge extraction process uses advanced techniques such as ion exchange and encompasses purification and refining, ultimately converting into an end-product such as rubidium slat and metal.
Rubidium was classified as a designated critical mineral by the most recent United States Government geological survey. It has the potential for use across a wide range of high-tech and traditional industries.
It is often associated with caesium and lithium mineralisation and its compounds are used in biomedical research, electronics, specialty glass, pyrotechnics and military industrial applications.
Researchers believe it could potentially be used as a propellant in ion engines on spacecraft, in addition to its use in specialty glasses for fibre-optic telecommunication systems. The critical mineral also has several uses in medical science, such as in positron emission tomographic (PET) imaging.
Everest will be hoping the upcoming results prove that it has taken a further step up the mountain in defining a valuable rubidium resource.
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By Craig Nolan
