ASX-listed lithium battery player Lithium Australia has maintained exposure to gold and base metals through joint ventures it has recently struck over various projects in WA while at the same time retaining the rights to 100 per cent of the landholdings’ lithium mineralisation at little cost.
The Perth-based lithium player has farmed out the mineral rights, except for lithium, to JV partner Okapi Resources in an agreement that will see exploration resume at the Lake Johnston and Medcalf projects about 120km west of Norseman during the December quarter.
Lithium Australia had previously carried out reconnaissance geological mapping and geochemical sampling there, resulting in the discovery of a spodumene pegmatite cluster at Tamar Hill near Lake Medcalf.
The tenements are located at the southern end of the Lake Johnston greenstone belt in central WA, host to the historic Maggie Hayes and Emily Ann nickel mines. According to Okapi, the Lake Johnston ground represents an exciting 10km-long “walk-up” gold exploration target in an area that has been the subject of sporadic modern gold exploration.
In the event it meets the $150,000 minimum spend requirements on exploration, Okapi can then earn a 75 per cent interest in Lithium Australia’s Lake Johnston projects through the total expenditure of $1.2 million on exploration within five years. Lithium Australia is free carried until the completion of a definitive feasibility study.
Meanwhile, Australian Vanadium and Mercator Metals, in conjunction with Lithium Australia, are looking at the nickel-copper-platinum group metals prospectivity of the Coates Mafic Intrusive Complex project that sits about 30km south-east of the recent nickel-copper-PGMs discovery made by Chalice Gold Mines at its Julimar project.
Lithium Australia has also divested its Emu Lake lithium project about 75km north-east of Kalgoorlie to unlisted Metal Hawk, which sees the tenement as prospective for nickel and gold and having walk-up targets identified by earlier explorers. Once again, Lithium Australia retains 100 per cent of the rights to Emu Lake’s lithium potential under the transaction. Metal Hawk picks up the project for $60,000.
Earlier this month, Lithium Australia’s subsidiary Envirostream Australia received what may turn out to be a big boost in spent batteries “feed” for its recycling facilities in Victoria after the ACCC gave the Battery Stewardship Council the go-ahead to set up and manage a national levy scheme for the collection and recycling of end-of-life batteries.
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