Kairos Minerals has uncovered several lithium targets and a new gold target from a swag of soil samples collected from its Pilbara tenements that have fuelled the company’s appetite for an immediate follow-up.
The 1300-plus soil samples were taken from the Croydon project, part of Kairos’ much-larger Pilbara gold project.
The best gold results include the 1km-long gold anomaly at the Aqua prospect, going up to 3,060 parts per billion gold, and the new prospect of Viento with a 2.5km-long target with a gold anomaly,
However, it is the four new lithium targets defined by the soil sampling, based on elevated lithium and pathfinder elements and geology, that have Kairos eager for more exploratory work.
Kairos describes the results as strong, with lithium targets returning values of up to 177 parts per million and coincident mapped pegmatites.
Kairos Minerals Managing Director, Dr Peter Turner said: “These are very strong results which demonstrate that Croydon has outstanding potential to host extensive lithium and gold mineralisation.”
“In light of these results, we are moving quickly to implement follow-up programs of field verification, mapping and drilling.”
“The Viento-Fuego-Tierra-Aqua Prospects are significant gold anomalies arranged in clusters over 20km along a granitic margin and provide Kairos with an exciting pipeline of gold prospects with scale and tenor that warrant imminent drill-testing.”
Management believes these early results show very interesting anomalies and require immediate follow-up, with two lithium targets – Tierra and Eastern Target 1 – both showing good indicators of lithium pegmatites in their geology and anomalies.
Tierra is likely to receive attention first to find out what it contains, mainly for its lithium potential but also for its gold prospect. Kairos reports in-fill results confirm and refined the target area, with values up to 1,511 parts per billion gold.
No doubt nearology is helping whet Kairos’ enthusiasm.
Company management says these two targets show similar geological settings to the Mt Cassiterite pegmatite suite – part of the Wodgina total pegmatite mineral resource, owned by Mineral Resources and Albemarle Corporation, that totals 259 million tonnes going 1.17 per cent lithium oxide.
Among the gold anomalies is a new gold target – a 2.5km-long strike in the Viento prospect, at the very north of the Croydon project.
The Viento prospect sits on the margins of the Sisters Supersuite intrusion – granitic and ultramafic to mafic intrusive rocks – where several gold, copper, tin, lithium and tungsten prospects have been identified.
Croydon is 120km south of Port Hedland, and to the north is De Grey Mining’s Hemi prospect. Discovered in late 2019, Hemi is an intrusion-hosted gold that De Grey says is new to the Pilbara region. The company has put a mineral estimate on Hemi of 8.5 million ounces, saying it has the potential to be mined by large scale, low-cost open pit mining.
Croydon was pegged for its geological characteristics and its potential to host Hemi-style mineralisation. Kairos believes results to date though only preliminary results attest to its prospectivity for gold and significant lithium mineralisation.
With the gold price somewhat on the back foot in recent months, it’s little wonder that Kairos Minerals is looking to lithium first.
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By Matt Birney
