Australian Critical Minerals (ASX:ACM) is planning to conduct a reverse circulation (RC) drilling program at its Cooletha Project in Western Australia after recent work highlighted the area’s lithium prospectivity.
The company says the drilling will test the most prospective surface geochemical anomalism at Cooletha.
Meanwhile, Australian Critical Minerals is working to advance its exploration efforts over the areas within the Cooletha and Shaw projects, which are considered prospective for channel iron deposits and banded iron formation.
The company also announced today (1 March 2024) that it had completed rock sampling reconnaissance and field checking to further develop the scale potential of Cooletha’s pegmatite fields.
Results from 169 rock samples have enhanced the company’s geological understanding of the project and confirmed the presence of pegmatite fields.
These newly recognised fields lie in and adjacent to areas uncovered by Australian Critical Minerals’ Cooletha Integrated Multispectral Interpretation Study.
Managing Director Dean de Largie says the observations from the sampling program provide more information to support the geological exploration model being developed at Cooletha.
“The model we have developed indicates that within ACM’s Cooletha project, the subdued topography between outcropping silica ridges represents the weathered inner zones of pegmatite intrusions.
These localised subdued areas have encouraging geological characteristics, including pegmatitic material within muscovite-rich soils. These pegmatitic soils will form one of the turrets of the next phase of work at Cooletha.”
“The model we have developed indicates that within ACM’s Cooletha project, the subdued topography between outcropping silica ridges represents the weathered inner zones of pegmatite intrusions”
Australian Critical Minerals says multiple targets within the project area need ground truthing and/or assessment, with a regional 1km-by-0.5km soil grid program planned to further delineate the extents of the pegmatite fields.
The company is now planning to implement this program across the Goldilocks Zone to uncover and rank anomalous Cooletha pegmatite field targets, as well as infill anomalous soil results with a close-spaced sampling program on a 100m by 50m grid.
Upon completing this work, the company will conduct a thorough geochemical analysis of the soil and rock chip samples from any exposed pegmatites.
Cooletha is the company’s flagship lithium project and covers more than 100km-square of lithium prospectivity in the Pilbara lithium district.
Australian Critical Minerals is a mineral explorer focused on its critical mineral assets in Western Australia.
As of 31 December 2023, the company had $3.258 million cash and cash equivalents at hand, according to its latest quarterly report.
Write to Aaliyah Rogan at Mining.com.au
Images: Australian Critical Minerals
