Trigg Mining revealed significant growth potential using gravity surveys at its Laverton sulphate of potash, or ‘SOP’ projects in the eastern Goldfields region of Western Australia. With two pivotal gravity surveys now complete, Trigg is preparing for a maiden drill program in the second half of the year.
The maiden 221-line-kilometre gravity survey at the newly-granted Lake Yeo SOP project is the first on-ground exploration activity at the fresh greenfield project.
Interpretation of the survey data has identified a palaeovalley 80km long, up to 3.5km wide and potentially up to 100m in depth says the company.
A palaeovalley, or a palaeochannel, is a geological term used to describe the remnants of an ancient river system filled with younger sediments.
The company interprets its southern project, Lake Yeo to be a downstream, extension of its Lake Throssell project, within the broader Throssell palaeovalley system.
An additional infill gravity survey was completed at the company’s flagship Lake Throssell project as part of an ongoing pre-feasibility study.
The newly collected results will be combined with earlier gravity data and geological models to establish a high-resolution dataset.
The 216-line-kilometre infill survey builds on the existing 182km of existing survey lines.
The upgraded dataset will be used in designing upcoming 2022 air core and test production bore drilling programs set for the third quarter of the year. Trigg says the results of the upcoming campaigns will support the pre-feasibility study and any future ore-reserve estimates.
Notably, the updated gravity model presents significant exploration upside for the Lake Throssell project as it extends the interpreted palaeovalley within granted tenure.
The modelled resource is interpreted to extend up to 5km wide, 150m deep and 36km in length. According to Trigg, a further 34km of extensions are yet to be explored.
The Lake Throssell project has a total drainable resource of 14.4 million tonnes at 10.4 kilograms of potassium sulphate per cubic metre.
Remarkably, a 2021 Lake Throssell scoping study suggesting an initial 21-year mine life capable of producing 245,000 tonnes per annum of SOP could position the company as a low-cost and global Top-10 SOP producer.
Importantly, Trigg holds pending applications to lock up more of the prospective interpreted palaeochannel system between its Lake Throssell and Lake Yeo projects.
Research from The Fertiliser Institute suggests Russia is responsible for about 20 per cent of the global potash market and considering current geopolitical tensions, now is not a bad time diving into the WA salt lakes in search of SOP.
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