Venus Metals has launched an RC drilling program at new targets at its wholly owned Youanmi lithium project in WA’s Murchison region, about 480km north-east of Perth.
The drilling will test lithium soil and rock chip anomalies for pegmatite-hosted lithium-caesium-tantalum, or “LCT” mineralisation in the bedrock.
The company was encouraged from assays of 158 soil samples, 40m by 80m spacing, collected as part of a regional reconnaissance geochemical program together with three rock chip samples from the sub-cropping pegmatites.
The soil survey specifically targeted a beryl occurrence that had not previously been tested and the results showed three east-north-east trending lithium anomalies with a northern one centred on the reported beryl occurrence, a second anomaly located about 50m to its south and a third further south.
Venus Metals is a WA-based company exploring gold, lithium, rare earths, vanadium and base metals and has projects in joint ventures with Rox Resources, including the Youanmi gold mine.
However, Venus wholly owns its lithium project and the new drilling program targets areas that provided the soil samples on its licence to the gold mine’s south-west.
The lithium anomalies in the northern part of the area were delineated by a geochemical soil survey at a historical beryl occurrence. Rock chip samples from a nearby sub-cropping pegmatite returned up to 2.11 per cent lithium oxide.
Venus believes the high lithium concentrations in two rock samples, together with the broad lithium anomalism in soil, may indicate the presence of a pegmatite that is under cover and thus has not yet been mapped and tested.
The Manindi North prospect is located within the granite–greenstone contact zone of the Youanmi greenstone belt, considered prospective for LCT pegmatite mineralisation.
Significantly, perhaps, Venus has history on its side for this new campaign.
Previous drilling of lithium-bearing pegmatites in the area, reported in early in 2019, intersected 12m at 0.68 per cent lithium oxide – including 2m going 1.58 per cent lithium oxide and 4m going 0.76 per cent lithium oxide.
Drilling will also test the interpreted down-dip extension of lithium-bearing pegmatites at the project’s Central Prospect, to the south.
When it comes to lithium, the market is desperate for any good news about new discoveries – and not only Elon Musk, whose Tesla factories churned out an astonishing 1.3 million electric vehicles last year. Earlier this month, research company Benchmark Mineral Intelligence declared the lithium market would face its biggest-ever lithium shortage this year due to labour shortages and border closures.
Benchmark has separately predicted the lithium industry would need $42 billion of investment if it were to meet demand in 2030, forecast to be around the 2.4 million tonnes figure for lithium carbonate equivalent – compared to the 600,000 tonnes Benchmark expected to have been produced last year.
If Venus – and the many other lithium hopefuls digging around WA – can help meet that shortfall, there would be many in the green energy market who would be grateful. Including Elon.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@businessnews.com.au
By Matt Birney
