Infinity Mining is turning towards space in the hope of finding valuable minerals lurking underground at its promising Tambourah South project in the East Pilbara.
The Queensland-based, WA-focused company is installing a new, advanced geophysical method at Tambourah South to map several hundred metres of subsurface and to create 3D data visualisation to help focus its exploration activities.
Infinity is searching for pegmatite-hosted lithium, rubidium and rare earths mineralisation, with a goal to find out where lithium-caesium-tantalum (LCT)-rich pegmatites identified at surface may have grown at depth. It also hopes to identify any concealed, flat-lying pegmatite bodies and to map potential host geology and structures.
The company’s key strategy in the mission is deploying high-tech ExoSphere geodes sourced from South Australia’s Fleet Space Technologies. The geodes act as sensors and can help map pegmatites at depth by employing ambient noise tomography (ANT), or “passive seismic”.
Passive seismic uses sound waves generated from natural events such as earth tremors and substantial storms, in addition to man-made sources including vehicles moving along a road or the operations of a nearby mine. The resulting vibrations created through the Earth’s crust are then collected by the geodes in the field.
Infinity has placed its ANT geodes in the ground at specific intervals in a predetermined grid. The seismic data captured is then transmitted through what Fleet claims is the world’s most advanced low-power satellite network back to its office, where a 3D model is built over the period of the survey. It is usually a month-long process.
The evolving 3D model can be accessed in real time while the survey is still underway and the geodes can be moved to a new location to enhance the imaging. The geodes are removed at the completion of the survey.
Infinity Mining chief executive officer Joe Groot said: “This is a very important survey for Infinity and low impact minerals exploration. Infinity will be the first junior miner to utilise this imaging technology for lithium and REE (rare earth elements) exploration in the Pilbara and we are excited to have commenced deployment of the Australian-developed ExoSphere ANT system in the field.”
Infinity says that coupled with the company’s existing data, the ANT modelling will provide a more detailed understanding of the subsurface of Tambourah South’s pegmatites and its overall geology. It says that will enable more effective target drilling, with the potential to also discover more concealed pegmatite bodies.
The company has already generated a healthy set of figures on Tambourah South, which sits south-west of Marble Bar, after its maiden RC drilling campaign last year followed hard on the heels of a rock chip and mapping program.
That program identified 36 weathered pegmatites with samples taken for surface outcrops with a width of 10 metres and a strike length up to 558m. Results also featured lithium oxide readings of up to 3.86 per cent, caesium up to 338 parts per million, niobium up to 174ppm and rubidium up to 6489ppm.
Now, is there more to come?
Onlookers will be eagerly watching to see what Fleet’s speedy, low-impact geodes can deliver for Infinity. A measure of success is likely to mean that while the company might be the first to employ them in the Pilbara, they may not be the last.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@businessnews.com.au
By Mark Irving
