Newly listed lithium and gold explorer Octava Minerals has lit up a number of priority targets at the company’s Talga lithium project in WA’s Pilbara region after a preliminary portable XRF machine analysis of over 2000 soil samples. Whilst the company awaits its full laboratory results it already has identified multiple additional pegmatites and marked seven priority target areas for further field assessment.
Shortly after listing in September, the company commenced exploration at the project with a surface sampling program that included a number of rock chip samples across outcropping pegmatites and a haul of soil samples. Both types of samples have been submitted to the laboratory for analysis.
To fast-track exploration Octava’s preliminary pXRF results were fed into a proprietary analysis method – ‘Li Index’ – developed by Portable Spectral Services. Because lithium is atomically light it is undetectable by standard X-ray geochemical detection methods. Portable Spectral Services’ proprietary method provides a proxy for lithium content via a correlation with a suite of five elements that are detectable by pXRF.
A number of anomalies were picked up by the method including a 1.5km long target at the project’s Pinnacle Well prospect. Lithium mineralisation has been previously recorded in pegmatites at Pinnacle well, however much of the tenure remains unexplored for lithium.
Octava says a number of the elevated Li Index features are coincident with remote sensing targets it has previously spotted. The company’s geological mapping efforts also suggest the project’s pegmatites are within a geological setting similar to that of the Archer lithium deposit of 10.5 million tonnes at 1.0 per cent lithium oxide, located just 10km to the south-west.
Octava Minerals Managing Director, Bevan Wakelam said: “It is excellent to see the pXRF results from the soil sampling program confirm the early targeting observations of our geologists.”
“While these results are only indicative, they are certainly very encouraging and allow us to accelerate our exploration activities at Talga leading towards a drill testing program…”
As the company looks to move its project towards ‘drill ready’ status it plans to continue its field mapping and surface sampling efforts across priority targets in addition to obtaining heritage clearance.
In recent years, the Pilbara has morphed into something of a lithium hub and is home to a pair of the world’s most significant deposits, Pilbara Minerals’ Pilgangoora asset and Mineral Resources’ Wodgina deposit about 120km West of Talga.
A 2022 report by the International Energy Agency suggests meeting future climate stabilisation goals will need a quadrupling or more in mineral requirements. Lithium is forecast to experience the fastest growth in demand, increasing by 40 times by 2040 followed by an increase of 20 to 25-fold for graphite, nickel and cobalt.
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By Matt Birney
