Lithium hits add flavour to Kula gold, kaolin hunt
Southern Cross-focussed Kula Gold has added lithium to its shopping list after geochemical sampling yielded a lithium cluster at its Rankin Dome project in the Southern Cross region in WA.
The company said results from a first pass auger geochemistry program at the project show an anomalous lithium cluster co-incident with the north west trending magnetic structure. The lithium auger results cover an approximate 1.5 kilometre extent that remains open in all directions.
Follow up auger geochemistry sampling has now been completed.
Kula said other areas of the 1,213 square kilometre tenement have also been tested, including for gold, which are under cover at the time of the initial drilling.
Kula has been chasing kaolin, gold and base metals across its four project areas and the surprise discovery of lithium adds an element of blue sky to the company’s Rankin Dome project.
Notably, Kula’s Rankin Dome tenement lays approximately 130 kilometres northwest of the world class Mt Holland Lithium mine in the same terrain as the Yilgarn Province.
Lithium is a hot commodity for Kula to bolt onto its hit list at a time when the sought after battery metal is trading at historic highs.
A research note from Trading Economics noted prices have surged over 25 per cent this year from continuously increasing demand from lithium battery manufacturers.
The recent high-profile cancellation of Rio Tinto’s massive Jadar lithium-borates project by the Serbian Government has also shot holes in the projected supply and demand curve for lithium.
The now-defunct project would have been worth US$2.4 billion and was estimated to produce enough lithium for 1 million electric vehicle batteries.
Kula is also in the final throes of a 62-hole RC drilling campaign at the Boomerang prospect at its nearby 100 per cent owned Marvel Loch-Airfield project. It sunk 52 holes prior to the holiday break and is now kicking in the balance after recently resuming drilling.
Whilst it looks to define the lateral and vertical extent of the kaolinized horizon at Boomerang, the company is also looking to test a coincident gold target below the kaolin horizon by extending the drillholes by about 10 to 15m to penetrate the fresh rock below.
Kaolin is chiefly used as a “filler” in the paper manufacturing industry to increase gloss, smoothness and brightness. The mineral is also used in fiberglass manufacturing to produce lightweight composites for the aerospace, automotive and marine industries, amongst a host of others.
Kula also has the historic Donnybrook gold mine in its back pocket along with several nearby key tenements as part of its Brunswick project approximately 150km south of Perth.
That project is located in the highly prospective Western Gneiss Terrain, better known as the host of rock star Chalice Gold Mines and its world class Julimar nickel, copper and platinum group elements project.
Rock chip samples taken in 2021 from the Brunswick licence area yielded up to seven grams per tonne gold.
Kula has an interesting collection of targets to follow up on that are potentially yielding minerals that have found current favour with the market. Expect plenty of newsflow in the months ahead.
Southern Cross-focussed Kula Gold has added lithium to its shopping list after geochemical sampling yielded a lithium cluster at its Rankin Dome project in the Southern Cross region in WA.
The company said results from a first pass auger geochemistry program at the project show an anomalous lithium cluster co-incident with the north west trending magnetic structure. The lithium auger results cover an approximate 1.5 kilometre extent that remains open in all directions.
Follow up auger geochemistry sampling has now been completed.
Kula said other areas of the 1,213 square kilometre tenement have also been tested, including for gold, that are under cover at the time of the initial drilling.
Kula has been chasing kaolin, gold and base metals across its four project areas and the surprise discovery of lithium adds an element of blue sky to the company’s Rankin Dome project.
Notably, Kula’s Rankin Dome tenement lays approximately 130 kilometres northwest of the world class Mt Holland Lithium mine in the same terrain as the Yilgarn Province.
Lithium is a hot commodity for Kula to bolt onto its hit list at a time when the sought after battery metal is trading at historic highs.
A research note from Trading Economics noted prices have surged over 25 per cent this year from continuously increasing demand from lithium battery manufacturers.
The recent high-profile cancellation of Rio Tinto’s massive Jadar lithium-borates project by the Serbian Government has also shot holes in the projected supply and demand curve for lithium.
The now-defunct project would have been worth US$2.4 billion and was estimated to produce enough lithium for 1 million electric vehicle batteries.
Kula is also in the final throes of a 62-hole RC drilling campaign at the Boomerang prospect at its nearby 100 per cent owned Marvel Loch-Airfield project. It sunk 52 holes prior to the holiday break and is now kicking in the balance after recently resuming drilling.
Whilst it looks to define the lateral and vertical extent of the kaolinized horizon at Boomerang, the company is also looking to test a coincident gold target below the kaolin horizon by extending the drill holes by about 10 to 15m to penetrate the fresh rock below.
Kaolin is chiefly used as a “filler” in the paper manufacturing industry to increase gloss, smoothness and brightness. The mineral is also used in fibreglass manufacturing to produce lightweight composites for the aerospace, automotive and marine industries, amongst a host of others.
Kula also has the historic Donnybrook gold mine in its back pocket along with several nearby key tenements as part of its Brunswick project approximately 150km south of Perth.
That project is located in the highly prospective Western Gneiss Terrain, better known as the host of rock star Chalice Gold Mines and its world class Julimar nickel, copper and platinum group elements project.
Rock chip samples taken in 2021 from the Brunswick licence area yielded up to seven grams per tonne gold.
Kula has an interesting collection of targets to follow up on that are potentially yielding minerals that have found current favour with the market. Expect plenty of newsflow in the months ahead.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@businessnews.com.au