Si6 Metals says it has discovered a 3km-by-800m pegmatite corridor at its Padre Paraiso project in the State of Minas Gerais in Brazil, with assays returning anomalous lithium from auger drilling and rock chip samples.
The project sits 20km from Sigma Lithium’s renowned Grota do Cirilo operation that produces 270,000 tonnes per annum of lithium concentrate.
The company says its recent initial mapping and scout auger drilling program identified a substantial pegmatite corridor in the north-east part of the 1647.08-hectare tenement. The campaign intercepted the pegmatite that was mapped at surface along a 3km strike length.
Management says the pegmatite contains possible enclaves of the Salinas Formation – the preferred host rock for lithium mineralisation in the “Lithium Valley” region.
Seven rock chips and 106 auger samples were assayed, with the rock chip sampling of the enclaves returning anomalous lithium values up to 247 parts per million and rubidium levels of 695ppm. Auger drilling of the weathered saprolite atop the pegmatite assayed up to 401ppm lithium oxide.
The company has now begun a soil-sampling program to help identify priority drill targets at depth within the prospective corridor.
Si6 Metals non-executive chairman Ian Kiers said: “This initial exploration program returned excellent results and demonstrated that our Padre Paraiso Project has incredible potential. We are excited to continue the exploration by conducting a systematic soil program over the pegmatite zone that will guide a follow-up drilling program to assess this lithium target.”
Management believes the southern section of the tenement has the potential for clay-hosted rare earths mineralisation, with recent auger drilling from the program hitting 9m at 1342ppm total rare earth oxides (TREO) including a 1m slice grading 1915ppm. Encouragingly, the valuable magnet rare earths neodymium (Nd) and praseodymium (Pr) returned up to 405ppm NdPr and averaged more than 20 per cent of the TREO hits.
Si6 has six projects within the Lithium Valley and including Padre Paraiso, they are all part of a 50:50 joint venture (JV) structure with Foxfire Metals as part of an original deal struck on 10 existing Brazilian licences for rare earths and lithium. The company also recently negotiated to hold 70 per cent of any future licences that are agreed to between the two parties and placed into the Brazilian critical minerals JV.
Under the terms of the new deal and in accordance with the original JV agreement, Si6 will fund the expenditure incurred on applying for or acquiring any new ground through to a feasibility study. The costs will form part of the $1 million minimum expenditure commitment for the first year of the JV.
Foxfire brings significant on-ground Brazilian geological expertise to the JV and will have the first right of refusal on any new turf.
Si6 has undertaken a land-grab of late, securing multiple new tenements at several of its projects. It recently secured a further 54-square-kilometre plot of highly-prospective land to add to its original Caldera licence, enabling a more serious pursuit for high-grade rare earths.
Interestingly, the additional land borders Meteoric Resources’ Caldeira project where high-grade ionic-clay rare earths have been discovered and an inferred mineral resource of 409 million tonnes at 2626ppm TREO has been announced.
Within the past week, the company has revealed an increase to its tenement area in the Limpopo Mobile Belt in Botswana by 45 per cent to a total of 2868sq km after being granted a new 903sq-km prospecting licence. The newly-granted ground in the South African country sits 7km south of its high-grade copper-silver projects at Airstrip and Dibete and the Maibele North nickel-copper-cobalt.
Also in the past few days, Si6 has expanded its Brazilian footprint with a further 300sq km of new ground prospective for rare earths in the same region as its Padre Paraiso project. The turf, dubbed the Pimenta project, sits in the north-east of the State and has thrown up some eye-opening radiometric anomalies in 26km of untested strike.
It adds further ground to the Brazilian JV it shares with Foxfire.
Si6 also revealed that managing director Jim Malone has resigned to focus on his consulting business and offered “gratitude” for his 18-month contribution.
The company has proved recently it is intent on expanding prospective ground at many of its projects, which may prove a winning strategy in the ongoing race for critical minerals.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@businessnews.com.au
By Craig Nolan
