Lithium Australia has once again returned from the hunt for new lithium frontier projects, this time in tiger country in the Pilbara.
The Perth based, vertically integrated lithium tyro has bagged up what looks to be an asset rich greenfields lithium project 18km’s east of Marble bar in the Moolyella tin fields.
The company’s new Lithium/Tin/Tantalum project in the Pilbara boasts a host of prospective looking pegmatite mineralised structures that are sometimes known house lithium bearing ores.
Some individual outcropping pegmatites at the project are up to 15m thick and can be seen to run for 700m along strike.
According to the company, the visible pegmatites that outcrop at surface at Moolyella occur in swarms and contain abundant lithium micas that are often associated with alluvial deposits of tin and tantalum.
Lithium Australia is in the process of commercialising its “Sileach” processing technology which is able to convert lithium feedstock through to lithium-ion battery chemicals without the need for expensive, energy hungry roasting.
According to Lithium Australia, Sileach’s commercial advantage is that it is able to render otherwise uneconomic lithium ores economic, as it can make use of low grade and even waste dump feed stocks for upgrading into lithium carbonate or lithium hydroxide.
Whilst Sileach is applicable to many types of mineralisation, it works particularly well with mica’s which no doubt generated the interest in the mica rich Moolyella project for Lithium Australia management.
The company is on a mission to blaze a trail across all spectrums of the lithium business before it becomes commonplace in the market.
It now owns a plethora of exploration licences that are highly prospective for lithium and Moolyella will now take up residence in what is a quality stable of exploration projects that are capable of generating lithium feed stocks in the future.
Lithium Australia plans to apply its Sileach, chemical based processing technology to those feed stocks to make Lithium-ion battery grade chemicals.
Having recently bought out a unique lithium ion battery cathode manufacturer in the eastern states, the company will now also enter the battery parts manufacturing business giving it a foothold across the entire spectrum of the lithium-ion battery value chain.
Moolyella appears to have been well priced too with owner Anova Metals Australia receiving $25,000 in cash and a further $25,000 in Lithium Australia stock valued at the 20 day VWAP.
Commenting on the acquisition, Lithium Australia Managing Director Adrian Griffin said, “The abundance of fertile granites and associated pegmatites, in the Pilbara, has seen the region emerge as the greatest lithium province in the world. There remains great potential for further discoveries and Moolyella has all the right ingredients.”
By Matt Birney
