Infinity Mining has stretched its Pilbara lithium tenure to a whopping 795 square kilometres after securing a contiguous fourth exploration licence, adding to its strategically-located ground 30km west of Marble Bar in Western Australia.
And in addition to lithium, the company says its Panorama project area is also prospective for intrusive-related nickel-copper, shear and conglomerate-hosted gold systems and volcanic-hosted massive sulphide base-metal deposits.
Management says the latest licence acquisition from TasEx Geological Services extends its tenure total in the area by a significant 112sq km and ramps up its company status.
The Panorama project is well located in a region which also hosts Pilbara Minerals’ world-class Pilgangora lithium deposit that contains 4.5 million tonnes of lithium-oxide, 40km to the north-west. It also has the Wodgina lithium deposit, equally co-owned by mining giants Mineral Resources and Albermarle Corporation, that contains a hard-rock resource of 217 million tonnes at 1.17 per cent lithium-oxide, 60km to the west.
Infinity Mining chief executive officer Joe Groot said: “Exciting news from Infinity Mining as we successfully conclude the acquisition of E45/6281, expanding our Pilbara footprint to an impressive 795km2. This strategic move, seamlessly intergrated with our Panorama Project, positions us as a formidable Pilbara player.”
Not too far from Panorama, the company has a foothold on additional Pilbara tenure, 20km to the south at its Tambourah project and 50km south-east at its Hillside project.
Earlier this month, Infinity revealed plans to ramp up its search for a joint venture partner at Hillside after unveiling new nickel assays with headline hits of 135m at 2189 parts per million from 64m and 95m at 2197ppm from 254m.
Other significant results included 107m at 1727ppm from 235m, 52m at 1761ppm from surface and 16m at 2150ppm from 123m. Four of the nine reverse-circulation (RC) holes from the company’s recent drilling program contained assays greater than 1000ppm nickel across 24 zones and four of the zones returned a nickel-chromium ratio of greater than 1.
But now it is also looking at what it may be able to find at Panorama in terms of lithium, a valuable element used in the production of glass, aluminium products and batteries.
With the global shift to production of environmentally-friendly electric vehicles, the demand for lithium-ion batteries has increased dramatically. Consequently, global exploration – which is mainly targeting spodumene-bearing lithium-caesium-tantalum (LCT)-bearing pegmatites – has also escalated.
And Infinity will be buoyed by the fact that the Archaean Pilbara terrain has proven particularly productive, as shown by the tier-one LCT pegmatite deposits at Pilgangora and Wodgina.
The company now has an impressively-large Pilbara land tenure in an area containing world-class lithium deposits and is sitting in the type of premium exploration address that could turn-up a discovery of worth.
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By Rohan Halfpenny
