Shares in Perth-based miner Bulletin Resources (ASX:BNR) closed up over 30% on Friday after it announced that it had identified lithium targets following a review of historical exploration data at its Ravensthorpe Lithium Project.
The company’s recently granted 57km² tenement is located 12km along strike from Orocobre’s Mt Cattlin Lithium Mine near Ravensthorpe in Western Australia, and contains known lithium-bearing pegmatites along with gold potential.
Bulletin believes the project area is underexplored, with outcropping pegmatites receiving little-to-no previous exploration
Multiple exploration opportunities identified
Bulletin reports that it has identified a series of exploration opportunities at Ravensthorpe including:
- Greenstones hosting a swarm of lithium-caesium-tantalum-type pegmatites
- Outcropping pegmatites in the Deep Purple, Quarry, and Eastern tenement area
- Spodumene-bearing pegmatite rock chips with up to 6.6% Li2O at Deep Purple
- Spodumene float noted upstream of the Horseshoe pegmatite in the central part of the tenement. Float outcrop mapping in creeks supports the opportunity for further pegmatites beneath shallow cover. The depth potential of the shallowly drilled Horseshoe pegmatite remains to be tested
- An outcrop with green spodumene, similar to the spodumene type of the Mt Cattlin deposit, recorded in a creek bed west of the Deep Purple pegmatite; and
- The Phillips South area, with green muscovite (which is indicative of lithium mineralisation) recorded in mapping
Green spodumene specimen recovered from a creek bed west of the Deep Purple pegmatiteUnderexplored area generates opportunity
Bulletin believes the project area is underexplored, with outcropping pegmatites receiving little-to-no previous exploration, and evidence of lithium at depth below the outcropping Horseshoe pegmatite that has been previously drilled.
The company notes that mapping by previous explorers supports the potential for additional pegmatites that have yet to be identified, as they are not outcropping and/or buried by scree.
Bulletin has submitted exploration management plans to Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety (DMIRS) with approvals expected in the near term.
What’s next?
Bulletin reports that its upcoming field work program will determine potential for additional pegmatites, and define higher-grade mineralisation areas in order to develop a drill program.
The company will also assess the potential for gold by mapping, accompanied by ‘substantial’ surface soil and rock chip sampling.
Images: Bulletin Resources Limited
