Charger Metals (ASX:CHR) has completed project-wide soil geochemistry and mapping programs ahead of maiden drilling at its Medcalf Lithium Prospect, as part of its Lake Johnston Lithium Project in Western Australia.
The company reports that the planned drilling campaign, comprising 20 reverse circulation (RC) drillholes, will target an outcropping spodumene-bearing pegmatite cluster about 500m long within a 300m-wide corridor, with rock-chip assays ranging between 1.51% and 7.15% Li2O.
Commenting on the planned drilling, Charger Managing Director David Crook said: “Charger has scheduled its maiden drilling program at the Medcalf Lithium Prospect for the December quarter and our geological team is completing the prerequisites for the approval process.
“tHE PROSPECT HOSTS AN EXTENSIVE AREA OF SPODUMENE BEARING PEGMATITE SWARMS THAT WILL BE DRILLED SOON AFTER THE STATUTORY APPROVALS PROCESS IS COMPLETE”
The Prospect hosts an extensive area of spodumene bearing pegmatite swarms that will be drilled soon after the statutory approvals process is complete.”
The company also notes that the Medcalf prospect represents a mineralised zone within the Lake Johnston Project, which has gathered considerable interest due to its proximity to the large Mount Holland Lithium Project.
Mt Holland is understood to be one of the largest undeveloped hard-rock lithium projects in Australia, with ore reserves estimated at 94.2Mt @ 1.5% Li2O.
In addition, earlier conducted fieldwork that identified the spodumene-pegmatite swarm also indicates that strike direction of the pegmatite dykes trends towards the northwest and dips to the southwest.
The geochemistry program in particular extended the halo of the lithium-in-soil geochemical anomaly further into the north, where pegmatite sands and other minor outcrops suggest the existence of a potential sub-parallel zone.
The Lake Johnston Lithium Project is situated about 450km of the state capital city of Perth on the Archaean-aged Lake Johnston Greenstone Belt in Western Australia and comprises lithium prospects (including Medcalf and much of the Mount Day lithium-caesium-tantalum) within a 50km long corridor along the southern and western margin of the Lake Johnston granite batholith.
The project represents a joint-venture (JV) between Charger and Lithium Australia (ASX:LIT), with Charger owning 70% of all associated tenements and Australia Lithium owning the remaining 30%.
With the project-wide soil geochemistry and mapping programs now complete, Charger announces that it will finalise a DMIRS Program of Works application and commence a heritage survey later this month once its spring flora survey is complete.
Images: Charger Metals NL
