Lodestar Minerals (ASX:LSR)
Lodestar Minerals (ASX:LSR) is working to complete a bout of diamond drilling at its Earaheedy Project in Western Australia before Christmas as it follows up on months of exploration completed in the area this year so far. Exploration Manager Coraline Blaud says the diamond drilling will give the company a ‘way better understanding’ of the project as it looks to outline new drilling targets in 2024.
Lodestar Minerals (ASX:LSR) is making plans to collect additional samples early in 2024 to underpin the drilling of new target areas at its Earaheedy Project in Western Australia.
In the lead-up to this work, the $8.09 million market capitalisation company has begun a maiden 1,000m diamond drilling program at Earaheedy to follow up on some ‘significant’ reverse circulation (RC) gold and base metal intersections reported earlier this month.
Key RC results included hole LERC012 with 8m @ 1.05 grams per tonne (g/t) gold (Au) from 44m, including 4m @ 1.73g/t Au; hole LERC008 with 8m @ 0.74g/t Au from 8m; hole LERC017 with 12m @ 0.1% copper (Cu) from 40m; and hole LERC012 with 2m @ 0.24% zinc (Zn) from 160m.
Lodestar reports the new diamond drilling has been designed to test the depth and strike extensions of mineralised intervals and the orientation of the mineralisation and stratigraphy.
The company plans to drill 4 diamond core holes for roughly 1,000m within Zone 1, 4, and 5.
Lodestar says the drilling is expected to be completed in 2-3 weeks, with assays scheduled to be received in January to early February 2024.
Meanwhile, the company notes it has completed 4,650 samples over 2023, and it expects to receive the final assays from these samples in January 2024. It plans to use the assays to define new copper-gold, gold, and zinc-lead-silver targets across its tenure.
Lodestar Minerals Managing Director Ed Turner says the company believes the Earaheedy Project has the potential to host multiple copper-gold deposits.
“Our geological model, which has gold and copper being associated along the presence of volcanic sills within the sedimentary piles, has similarities to the high-grade VMS copper-gold DeGrussa deposit, which occurs within the region in the same aged sedimentary rocks of the Bryah Basin.”
“Our geological model … has similarities to the high-grade VMS copper-gold DeGrussa deposit, which occurs within the region in the same aged sedimentary rocks of the Bryah Basin”
Lodestar Minerals is an active metal and gold explorer. Its asset portfolio comprises the wholly owned Earaheedy, Jubilee Well, and Coolgardie West projects in Western Australia and the Ned’s Creek joint venture (JV) Project.
The Earaheedy Project holds a ‘major’ strategic landholding comprising over 1,400km-square on the northern margin of the prospective Earaheedy Basin.
As of 30 September 2023, Lodestar Minerals had $453,000 cash and cash equivalents at hand, although it has since received an additional $250,000 as the final payment of its cash consideration component from the sale of its 20% interest in Eastern Coolgardie Goldfields (ECG) to Future Battery Minerals (ASX:FBM).
The company currently holds 27.5 million shares in Future Battery Minerals that can be liquidated to fund its operations.
Write to Adam Drought at Mining.com.au
Images: Lodestar Minerals
With gold, copper, and zinc mineralisation struck in all 4 targets of its initial drilling program at the Earaheedy Project in Western Australia, Lodestar Minerals (ASX:LSR) is now getting ready for a final bout of 2023 drilling. Exploration Manager Coraline Blaud says following some ‘highly significant’ reverse circulation hits and with 5,000 soil samples to be collected by Christmas, the company will walk into 2024 ready to refine some new drilling targets.
Lodestar Minerals (ASX:LSR) has scheduled a 1,000m diamond core drilling program for mid-November after uncovering ‘significant’ gold, copper, and base metal mineralisation at its Earaheedy Project in Western Australia.
The $10.11 million market capitalisation company says the ‘highly encouraging’ results come from an initial reverse circulation (RC) drilling program at Earaheedy. This drilling work supports Lodestar’s geological model and the ‘strong’ potential for multiple mineralised systems to exist at the project.
Key results include hole LERC012 with 8m @ 1.05 grams per tonne (g/t) gold from 44m, including 4m @ 1.73g/t gold; hole LERC016 with 8m @ 0.11% copper from 76m; and hole LERC015 with 4m @ 0.29% zinc from 20m.
The company reports that the RC drilling comprised 22 holes for 3,900m, designed to follow up on ‘significant’ gold and copper intersections from previous first-pass aircore (AC) drilling, as reported on 2 August this year.
Lodestar has moved forward with a downhole electromagnetic (DHEM) survey work utilising the RC holes ahead of the planned diamond drilling program. The survey work is aimed at detecting potential conductors indicative of nearby massive copper sulphide mineralisation.
The diamond drilling is designed to test the orientation and structural controls of gold and copper mineralisation in conjunction with any DHEM conductors identified.
Lodestar adds that infill and regional soil sampling programs are still ongoing to test for copper and zinc mineralisation and standalone gold deposits.
Lodestar Minerals Managing Director Ed Turner says the new RC results further confirm the prospectivity of the Earaheedy project for gold and base metal mineralisation.
“The significant gold, copper, and zinc intersections justify diamond core drilling, which will commence in mid-November. Whilst these composite samples are encouraging, we are expecting the single-metre intervals will likely display even higher grades.
“Whilst these composite samples are encouraging, we are expecting the single-metre intervals will likely display even higher grades”
Our initial drilling campaigns have clearly shown the project has the potential to host multiple mineralised systems, namely a high-grade VMS copper-gold DeGrussa style deposit, as well as stand-alone gold deposits. Soil sampling is also underway between the drilled areas which have never been tested previously with geochemistry.”
Lodestar Minerals is a Western Australian base metal and gold explorer focused on its wholly owned Earaheedy and Coolgardie West projects, as well as its Ned’s Creek joint venture (JV) Project.
Lodestar Minerals had $453,000 cash and cash equivalents at hand as of 30 September 2023, according to its latest quarterly report, although it has since received an additional $250,000 as the final payment of its cash consideration component from the sale of its 20% interest in Eastern Coolgardie Goldfields (ECG) to Future Battery Minerals (ASX:FBM).
The company currently holds 27.5 million shares in Future Battery Minerals that can be liquidated to fund its operations.
Write to Adam Drought at Mining.com.au
Images: Lodestar Minerals
Lodestar Minerals (ASX:LSR) is looking to round off 2023 with diamond drilling as it lays the foundations for its planned 2024 exploration and discovery work in Western Australia.
Speaking to Mining.com.au on the sidelines of the International Mining and Resources Conference (IMARC) on day 2 (1 November 2023), Managing Director Ed Turner says drilling should be underway by mid-November and completed by early December, once assays from previous aircore (AC) and reverse circulation (RC) drilling programs are received.
Results are expected to be announced as early as next week.
“We did 5,000m of drilling and discovered copper and gold across 5 of the 7 targets that we drilled which are under sand cover in the Earaheedy Basin. That was very early encouragement, and so we followed that up with 4,000m of reverse circulation (RC) drilling that we completed during the interim. This is rapid progress.
We are hoping to not only follow up on the copper and gold hits from AC and RC drilling but hopefully give us that structural information that we currently don’t have.
That will really help us plan more targeted drill programs within the area we are currently drilling for next year. But at the same time, we are also doing a lot of soil geochem outside of that area and the rest of the project area that hasn’t been tested, and that includes the zinc-lead-silver targets.”
Turner tells this news service its upcoming work will be the last wave of exploration before the company takes a break over the summer season to interpret results and data to design its battle plans heading into 2024.
He notes that the company remains fully funded to undertake its current exploration plans, but work in the new year isn’t as clear just yet.
“We are fully funded for our current exploration programs, but we don’t know what the exact programs for next year are going to be yet, so we will review that over the summer. We do have access to $3 million worth of Future Battery Minerals (ASX:FBM) shares, which we can sell if need be.”
The MD says if all goes well, Lodestar will return to IMARC in 2024 with a potentially ‘significant’ Earaheedy discovery under its wing.
“Hopefully by this time next year we will have made a significant copper and/or gold discovery, or even a zinc-lead-silver discovery at Earaheedy. We think that is possible in the timeframe, you never know how long exploration is going to take, and we do have a very large land package, but we are very encouraged by the early results we have seen from our 2 drilling programs so far.
“Hopefully by this time next year we will have made a significant copper and/or gold discovery, or even a zinc-lead-silver discovery at Earaheedy“
We believe we are on the right track and [a discovery] could happen anytime next year.”
Mining.com.au is an official media partner of IMARC.
Lodestar Minerals is an active Western Australian base metal and gold explorer focused on the Earaheedy Basin, one of Western Australia’s most underexplored and prospective base metal provinces.
Write to Adam Drought at Mining.com.au
Images: Lodestar Minerals
Lodestar Minerals (ASX:LSR) Exploration Manager Coraline Blaud discusses the ‘amazing exploration potential’ of the company’s flagship Earaheedy Project in Western Australia.
Lodestar Minerals (ASX:LSR) has kicked off its maiden reverse circulation drilling program at its Earaheedy project in Western Australia. Managing Director Ed Turner explains how this round of drilling will follow up on aircore drilling that returned ‘encouraging’ gold and copper results.
Lodestar Minerals (ASX:LSR) has started its first reverse circulation (RC) drilling program at its Earaheedy Project in Western Australia.
Up to 18 holes for 3,000m of RC drilling are planned to follow up on ‘significant’ copper and gold intersections from recent aircore drilling conducted at Earaheedy, as previously announced by Lodestar on 2 August.
The $13.93 million market capitalisation company says this program may be extended depending on geological observations.
Drilling is following up on 4 of the 7 targets drilled as part of the aircore program, targeting possible extensions to the encountered copper and gold mineralisation at depth within fresh rock, along strike and across strike.
Subject to what is uncovered from the program, follow-up diamond core drilling and potential further RC drilling will be planned for November this year.
Drilling is expected to be completed in 2 to 3 weeks.
Commenting on the drill program, Lodestar Minerals Managing Director Ed Turner says: “We are excited to commence our maiden RC drilling program at the Earaheedy Project following the highly encouraging gold and copper hits in the recent aircore drilling. We believe the project has the potential to host multiple copper-gold deposits.
“We believe the project has the potential to host multiple copper-gold deposits“
This interpretation is based on the similarities between our geological model, which has gold and copper being associated along with the presence of volcanic sills within the sedimentary pile, and the high-grade VMS copper-gold DeGrussa deposit, which occurs within the region in the same aged sedimentary rocks of the Bryah Basin.”
The company adds that extensive geochemical soil sampling programs are proceeding, to be completed over various other target areas within the Earaheedy Project.
Lodestar Minerals is an active Western Australian base metal and gold explorer. The company’s wholly owned assets consist of the Earaheedy, Jubilee Well, and Coolgardie West projects.
As of 30 June 2023, the company had $637,000 cash and cash equivalents at hand, according to its latest quarterly report. However, the company announced to the ASX on 30 August 2023 that it is undertaking a capital raise of $825,000.
Write to Aaliyah Rogan at Mining.com.au
Images: Lodestar Minerals
This article is a sponsored feature from Mining.com.au partner Lodestar Minerals Limited. It is not financial advice. Talk to a registered financial expert before making investment decisions.
When Mining.com.au spoke to Lodestar Minerals (ASX:LSR) at the start of June this year, the company was “working hard to get all aspects of its strategy aligned”.
Exploration Manager Coraline Blaud had joined in December, followed by Managing Director Ed Turner in February, and the Perth-based explorer had its sights firmly set on a maiden 5,000m aircore drilling program at its wholly owned Earaheedy Base Metal Project in Western Australia.
Located northeast of Wiluna within the broader Earaheedy Basin, the 1,420km-square project is the star of a portfolio that also includes the Jubilee Well and Coolgardie West projects, the Ned’s Creek joint venture with Vango Mining (ASX:VAN), and — until recently — the Kangaroo Hills joint venture with Future Battery Minerals (ASX:FBM).
Now, with its strategic imperatives very much in order, Lodestar has completed its transition from alignment to execution — of which the sale of Kangaroo Hills was a key component.
Speaking again to Mining.com.au, Turner acknowledged that the sale of Lodestar’s 20% stake in Kangaroo Hills was part of a wider effort to trim the company’s portfolio to only the most essential of assets.
“A lot of junior companies make the mistake of spreading themselves too thin with projects, and it’s just a waste of money. If you want to be successful you need to focus on your best project,” he says.
“It’s a constant challenge. We have a very small but dedicated and specialised staff. We can bring in contractors and consultancies as required, but we have to be very efficient, and that’s always a balancing act for junior companies.”
“If you want to be successful you need to focus on your best project“
Finalised on August 7, the divestment netted Lodestar $3.5 million in cash and shares in Future Battery Minerals, plus another $3 million in performance rights. And while Lodestar will no longer be up for 20% of the exploration costs at Kangaroo Hills, its calculated decision to accept the majority of the proceeds in shares means it will retain exposure to future developments through its hefty stake in Future Battery Minerals.
But the performance rights, which expire in 5 years, are a different story. For Lodestar to enjoy that component of the deal, Future Battery Minerals will need to delineate a mineral resource at Kangaroo Hills measuring at least 10 million tonnes at 1% lithium oxide.
“The divestment was mutually beneficial, basically“
“Although we didn’t physically have to do any work on that joint venture with Future Battery Minerals, we still had to contribute funds, we still had to be part of the joint venture arrangement,” Turner adds.
“The divestment was mutually beneficial, basically. It’s good for them to own 100% from a promotional point of view, for the market, but also for them to get investors and potentially get financing for future mining operations.
“But we thought we’d get more value out of their growth, proving up an economic deposit, which we think they have a very good chance of doing within twelve months. We thought we’d get more benefit from our Future Battery Minerals shares potentially going up 4 or 5 times than holding on to our 20% and contributing to the exploration funds.”
Perhaps most important of all, the sale gives Lodestar the freedom to put all its time, effort and resources into the Earaheedy Project, where Turner believes “the potential for a very large copper-gold or zinc-lead-silver deposit is very high”.
In mid-July, Lodestar unveiled a number of gold hits from the aircore drilling campaign at Earaheedy, which was launched on June 26. Of the 7 targets drilled, 3 returned mineralisation in excess of 0.2 grams per tonne (g/t) gold, including 7m at 1.03g/t gold from 36m.
A few weeks later, at the start of August, Lodestar’s copper results were announced, with 5 of the same 7 targets yielding intercepts up to 12m at 1,462 parts per million (ppm) copper from 4m, including 4m at 3,674ppm copper.
“That was very successful,” Turner says.
“We found copper and gold in 6 of the targets — gold in 3 of the targets and copper in 5. It’s the same program, same 7 targets overall, but 6 of the 7 targets got us some good enough results to go back and do follow-up drilling.”
Importantly, that first-pass drilling program confirmed the geological models Turner and the Lodestar team had been working with. Excluding a few outcropping areas, the Earaheedy Project is covered with sandplain, meaning the rocks and structures of interest are hidden from view. As a result, the targets included in the aircore program were based on electromagnetic and geochemical anomalies.
“Everything we saw in the drilling backed up our geological model,” Turner explains.
“The results of the first-pass aircore drilling were better than expected. You don’t really expect to see too much, you just want to see indications of mineralisation with aircore drilling because it just goes through the soft rock. It can’t penetrate the fresh rock, so we don’t expect to see chalcopyrite or massive copper sulphide mineralisation. But we’ve seen those elevated numbers backed up by other things like cobalt and silver and nickel. They really show that we’re in a mineralised system.
“All the right ingredients are there, and that gives us a lot more confidence to go and spend a lot more money doing deeper RC and diamond core drilling“
“All the right ingredients are there, and that gives us a lot more confidence to go and spend a lot more money doing deeper RC and diamond core drilling.”
In Turner’s estimation, Lodestar potentially has a high-grade DeGrussa-style copper-gold deposit on its hands at Earaheedy. Located 900km north of Perth within the Bryah Basin, Sandfire Resources’ (ASX:SFR) DeGrussa Copper Operations produced up to 300,000 tonnes of high-grade copper annually from 2013 to 2022, when operations ceased.
“For a VMS” — volcanogenic massive sulphide — “system, you need volcanic rocks to be in part of the package. And the whole Earaheedy region we’re in wasn’t mapped as having volcanic rocks,” Turner says.
“But when we looked at the magnetics, we realised the potential was very high, and we did find some volcanic rocks in the field. That’s either a basalt or a dolerite — a dolerite is the intrusive version of a basalt. That’s what they have at DeGrussa and all the VMS deposits in the world. You need that volcanic component as the source of the copper.”
But if geologically similar projects can be used to deliver some insightful comparisons, those closest to home probably make the best candidates — like Rumble Resources’ (ASX:RTR) own Earaheedy Project.
Located 110km north of Wiluna, Rumble’s Earaheedy Project sits on the other side of the Earaheedy Basin to Lodestar’s Earaheedy Project. Forgetting for a moment any gripes we might have about the way we name things in this country, Rumble’s property is home to the Chinook deposit, which has become a source of envy among Western Australia’s zinc, lead and silver explorers.
Shares in Rumble Resources soared in April 2021 when the company unveiled promising results from drilling at Earaheedy, which eventually led to a ‘major zinc-lead discovery’ the same month. A $40 million capital raising was launched at the end of April to build on the hype, and Chinook now hosts a mineral resource estimate measuring 2.2 million tonnes of zinc, 700,000 tonnes of lead and 12.6 million ounces of silver, making it one of the world’s largest zinc sulphide discoveries in the last 10 years.
“Imagine the sedimentary basin is over 100-and-something kilometres wide, then it’s been folded up and where there’s an unconformable contact between these 2 particular rock types on that side of the base, that’s where they found their deposit,” Turner explains.
“On our side, we’ve got that same unconformity contact position, with the same rock formations, basically. We’ve got 100km of strike length of that contact within our tenement package now, so we’ve just started to test that position because that’s where the mineralisation gets trapped. You still need the faults and structures to concentrate the mineralisation, so we’ve just got to go through that process of testing with soil sampling first and then we then potentially follow up with drilling.”
“We’ve got 100km of strike length of that contact within our tenement package now“
If Turner is in touch with the potential at Lodestar’s Earaheedy Project, then he’s certainly in touch with the work required to get there.
“The hardest thing is really narrowing down, where do we spend the money? Because it’s a huge area and we’ve got so many targets,” he says.
“But you can’t look more than 6 months ahead, really, at this stage, until we do those next few phases of exploration.”
Nevertheless, Turner isn’t without some kind of vision. The next major goal, he says, is to make “a significant discovery” at Earaheedy — whether that’s copper and gold, or zinc, lead and silver — within the next drilling program, which is scheduled to begin in September.
“But these things can take years to prove-up resources and get into production,” he adds.
“Although, if you’re lucky enough to find a DeGrussa-style deposit, you can advance that really quite rapidly, compared to what Rumble Resources has got, which is a much larger deposit. The massive copper-gold deposits can be very rich, so they don’t have to be very big. If you discover one, you can quickly get in there and drill the hell out of it and advance quite quickly, if it’s not too complicated.
“But it’s all subject to the next round of exploration. Hopefully, we’ll also develop a lot of other targets which warrant first-pass drilling.”
“If you discover one, you can quickly get in there and drill the hell out of it and advance quite quickly“
Indeed, exploration success is achieved one step at a time, and Lodestar Minerals is a company that’s already demonstrated its commitment to doing what it said it would. The name of the game now — with a lean team and even leaner project portfolio — is to keep the ball rolling and see what happens. After all, as Turner so rightly noted: “Until we drill those holes, we won’t really know exactly what’s there.”
Write to Oliver Gray at Mining.com.au
Future Battery Minerals (ASX:FBM) has completed the acquisition of the remaining 20% interest in the Kangaroo Hills Lithium Project (KHLP) from fellow ASX-listed Lodestar Minerals (ASX:LSR).
Under the acquisition agreement, Future Battery Minerals, which has a market capitalisation of $44.92 million, has paid Lodestar subsidiary Goldfellas $250,000 in cash and issued the seller 27.51 million fully paid ordinary FBM shares.
In addition, 27,505,429 performance rights will be issued, which will vest and convert into fully paid ordinary shares upon Future Battery delineating and announcing a mineral resource of at least 10 million tonnes @ 1% Li2O at the KHLP.
Future Battery says the completion of the 100% ownership in the project confirms its commitment to further exploration and to the potential development of the project.
Future Battery Minerals is an ASX-listed exploration company focused on exploring for key battery minerals such as lithium, nickel, and copper.
As of June 30 2022, Future Battery Minerals had $3.04 million cash at hand, according to its latest quarterly report.
Write to Aaliyah Rogan at Mining.com.au
Images: Future Battery Minerals
This article is a sponsored feature from Mining.com.au partner Future Battery Minerals Limited. It is not financial advice. Talk to a registered financial expert before making investment decisions.
When Future Battery Minerals (ASX:FBM) finalised its rebranding at the end of March this year, it marked the end of one chapter and the start of another.
Though the Perth-based explorer had had its sights set on the critical metals driving electrification for some time, the name change represents a renewed sense of zeal for lithium in particular.
Future Battery’s portfolio of assets includes various projects in Australia. But it’s the 100% owned Kangaroo Hills Lithium Project in Western Australia, and the 80% owned Nevada Lithium Project in Nevada, US, which occupy the bulk of the company’s attention.
The Kangaroo Hills Lithium Project — in which Future Battery secured its 100% interest in on 7 August — came bursting to life in November 2022, when 2 exploration drillholes completed at the Nepean Nickel Project were re-assayed showing high grades of lithium, including 2m at 3.26% lithium oxide (Li2O) within a broader 6m interval at 1.38% Li2O.
“When we were doing some drilling late last year, we hit a pegmatite, which isn’t uncommon for exploration through that area, but we assayed this intercept and it came back with high-grade lithium in it,” Technical Director Robin Cox says.
“We had encouraging early signs of lithium mineralisation, followed that up, and we’ve made what we think is quite a significant discovery”
“And that’s when we started focusing on that area for lithium. It wasn’t a strategic pivot for us at the time to say, let’s not focus on nickel, let’s focus on lithium now. It was purely based on our exploration results. We had encouraging early signs of lithium mineralisation, followed that up, and we’ve made what we think is quite a significant discovery. And we’re in the process of further drilling that out.”
In an effort to give its narrower exploration focus more weight, Future Battery sold its advanced-stage Nepean tenements in mid-June for a total of $10 million but retained the adjacent Kangaroo Hills property it then owned in partnership with Lodestar Minerals (ASX:LSR), which had held a 20% stake.
To date, 2 drilling campaigns have been completed at Kangaroo Hills, with a third currently underway, focusing on the mineralised pegmatite known as the Big Red prospect. Drilling results have already highlighted the significance of Big Red, with the most notable intercepts including 29m at 1.36% Li2O from 38m and 27m at 1.32% Li2O from 64m.
Now, Future Battery is largely focused on target generation at Kangaroo Hills. The company has already identified multiple high-priority pegmatite targets, which further underscore the prospectivity of the region. Seven ‘large-scale’ targets have been added to the list for drill testing, which combine for a total strike length of over 3km.
“We’ve been trialling a lot of different geophysical methods, and we can see that, specifically, resistivity is detecting the pegmatites, so we’re doing further resistivity work,” Cox says.
“We’re currently in our third phase of drilling, and that’s a combination of RC and diamond drilling”
“Ground gravity is also proving quite helpful in detecting the pegmatite. So we’ve expanded our survey area for that, too. And now that we have a number of regional targets in the area, we’re going through and systematically drilling those. We’re currently in our third phase of drilling, and that’s a combination of RC and diamond drilling.”
The Nevada Lithium Project, on the other hand, was acquired in June 2022. Located near the township of Tonopah, it covers more than 90km-square and consists of five key prospects — Traction, San Antone, Heller, Lone Mountain and Western Flats.
But unlike the discovery at Kangaroo Hills, the acquisition was more a strategic decision than a happy accident.
“We were looking for a project to complement the work we were doing in Western Australia on the nickel sulphide projects at that point in time, because those projects were quite advanced and we were going through a scoping study, leading on to a pre-feasibility study,” Cox explains.
“We acquired the Nevada project quite cheaply, in an area that was easy to explore”
“We were looking for something that provided the opportunities of a greenfield, early-stage exploration project. And we acquired the Nevada project cheaply, in a safe advanced mining jurisdiction. But at that point in time, we weren’t really looking to make lithium our main focus.
Over the last 6 months we’ve had significant success at Kangaroo Hills and Nevada in the first rounds of drilling resulting in two lithium discoveries which we are now focused on further exploring and delivering maiden mineral resources on both.”
That first round of drilling in Nevada, the results for which were released in April, included a 109.7m hit at 766 parts per million (ppm) lithium from 135.6m, including 29m at 1,010ppm lithium. As Cox noted, such an intercept puts the Nevada Lithium Project in the same ballpark as two of its much-lauded neighbours — American Battery Technology Company’s (OTCMKTS:ABML) Tonopah Flats and American Lithium’s (TSXV:LI) TLC projects.
Since then, the company has completed a phase two drilling program, with the results — measuring up to 179.8m at 766ppm lithium from 39.6m, including 19.8m at 1,010ppm lithium from 80.8m — confirming the ‘significant scale’ of the lithium mineralisation at the Lone Mountain prospect.
The results validate the significance of the initial discovery and highlight a mineralised footprint currently spanning 3km by 1.3km, with a further 2km of prospective strike open to the south. Future Battery Minerals is now targeting a maiden mineral resource estimate in the first quarter of 2024.
“The assay results from the second round of drilling confirm the outstanding thick intercepts of lithium mineralised claystone, highlighting the significance of the discovery in Nevada. Importantly, the intercepts are shallowing to the south with mineralisation now identified at less than 40m down hole and up to 180m in down hole thickness,” Cox said in an announcement to the ASX at the start of August.
“The significance of the scale is highlighted by the current mineralised east-west strike of 3km and north-south strike of 1.3km, which still remains open to the south for a further 2km.”
But Future Battery’s recent major developments go even further than exploration successes.
In June this year, the company appointed Paul Brown as Non-Executive Director. Having held senior positions at diversified mining giant Mineral Resources (ASX:MIN) — including CEO of both its Commodities and Lithium departments — Brown’s 20-plus years of experience have covered everything from operational management and technical leadership to resource evaluation and mine planning.
“Mr Brown holds a Masters in Mine Engineering (M.Eng) from Federation University in Victoria and possesses mechanical trade qualifications, further enhancing his technical knowledge and proficiency,” Future Battery said in an announcement at the time.
“The appointment of Mr Brown as a Non-Executive Director brings valuable insights and a wealth of industry experience to FBM”
“The appointment of Mr Brown as a Non-Executive Director brings valuable insights and a wealth of industry experience to FBM. His strategic vision and extensive expertise will significantly contribute to the company’s growth and success.”
Brown’s appointment is, among other things, a clear sign of Future Battery’s commitment to the lithium space.
The company’s aim over the next 6-9 months is to drill out the Big Red prospect at Kangaroo Hills, as well as the Lone Mountain prospect in Nevada. The company believes this is achievable by end of Q1 2024 which will then lead onto the companies next steps in the lithium market.
“In terms of the lithium, we are looking at our option to have an integrated business model where it’s not just selling at the mine gate, but being part of the downstream value add processes,” he says.
The proposed strategy is perhaps one taken from the Mineral Resources playbook, which enjoyed a monumental earnings boost earlier this year after it began selling lithium hydroxide directly to battery manufacturers rather than shipping it from the mine to third-party processors.
Recent reporting by the Australian Financial Review suggests fellow lithium producer Pilbara Minerals (ASX:PLS) is contemplating a similar move, having engaged Macquarie Capital to hunt down a partner with which to build a $1 billion processing facility. The plant, which would convert spodumene to battery-ready lithium hydroxide, would be an addition to the company’s lithium processing joint venture with Korean behemoth POSCO (KRX:005490).
Clearly, the downstream angle is one that’s brought lithium players a good deal of success already. And with that demonstrated record — plus a rather chasmic lithium production deficit — it might be reasonable to suggest that that success is merely the tip of the iceberg.
There are, of course, a tremendous quantity of variables. But the companies best placed to ride the wave to multi-billion-dollar market capitalisations will be the ones with the right projects, the right expertise, a sound strategy, and an appropriate measure of ambition. Future Battery Minerals certainly appears to tick those boxes, but the question remains — can it deliver? And to what extent?
Write to Oliver Gray at Mining.com.au
Images: Future Battery Minerals Ltd
Mining.com.au is Australia’s leading online daily Mining news service, reaching hundreds-of-thousands of mining professionals, investors, and industry participants each month. The Weekly Wrap-Up with Harry Mulholland provides listeners with a recap of the mining headlines each week.
In this episode, Harry reports on news from Pan Asia Metals (ASX:PAM), Magmatic Resources (ASX:MAG), Lodestar Minerals (ASX:LSR), and Astro Resources (ASX:ARO).
Lodestar Minerals (ASX:LSR) has divested its remaining 20% interest in the Kangaroo Hills Lithium Project (KHLP) to joint venture partner Future Battery Minerals (ASX:FBM).
Lodestar entered into an agreement with Future Battery Minerals for the sale of its 20% interest in Eastern Coolgardie Goldfields, which holds the recently discovered KHLP and recently disposed of its interest in the Nepean Nickel Project.
The completion date of the divestment is expected to occur on or around 11 August 2023.
Addressing the sale, Lodestar Managing Director Ed Turner says: “Lodestar is very pleased to complete this transaction. We strongly believe in the future of the Kangaroo Hills Lithium Project and FBM’s ability to continue to prove up an economic resource.
“We strongly believe in the future of the Kangaroo Hills lithium project and FBM’s ability to continue to prove up an economic resource”
With this deal Lodestar no longer has to expend funds on exploration and development but will retain exposure to the upside with the potential growth in FBM’s share price as this project, FBM’s Nevada Lithium Project and their Saints Nickel Project advance. In addition, we receive cash and shares we can utilise to fund our exploration programs at the Earaheedy Project which is our primary focus now.
The Earaheedy Project has tremendous potential for gold and base metal discoveries as evidenced by our maiden drilling program that recently intersected significant gold and copper results.”
Future Battery Minerals Executive Chairman Mike Edwards says the acquisition of Lodestar’s 20% JV interest is a significant step in the company becoming the next lithium producer in Western Australia.
He notes that the acquisition also confirms the belief and potential the company sees at Kangaroo Hills and allows Future Battery Minerals to confidently move forward with strategic plans for the project.
“Both diamond core and reverse circulation (RC) drilling is underway together with metallurgical test work on core samples taken at Kangaroo Hills. We look forward to updating the market further as we progress on these important activities”.
Following the discovery of spodumene-bearing pegmatites in March 2023, Future Battery Minerals is now actively drilling the Big Red Prospect (29m @ 1.36% Li2O from 38m KHRC011) and the regional prospects, Rocky (5m @ 1.12% Li2O from 104m KHRC037), Eastern Grey, Wallaroo and Pademelon.
The company is also undertaking further target generative geophysics and geochemistry and has commenced early-stage metallurgical test work on what has become an exciting hard rock lithium discovery.
Write to Adam Orlando at Mining.com.au
Images: Future Battery Minerals Ltd
Diversified explorer Lodestar Minerals (ASX:LSR) is planning fresh reverse circulation (RC) and diamond drilling to better test ‘significant’ gold and copper targets at its Earaheedy Project in Western Australia.
The $18.43 million market capitalisation company says it has struck ‘significant’ copper intersections at 5 out of 7 targets tested in a maiden aircore (AC) drilling program at the project. Some of these intersections are coincidental with the ‘significant’ gold intersections reported on 17 July 2023.
The top intersections from the AC drilling program include hole LEA0092 with 12m @ 1,462 parts per million (ppm) Cu from 4m, including 4m @ 3,674ppm Cu from 4m; LEA0058 with 16m @ 1,124ppm Cu from 8m, including 8m @ 1,536ppm Cu from 12m; LEA0064 with 8m @ 959ppm Cu from 12m, including 4m @ 1,329ppm Cu from 12m, and LEA0007 with 24m @ 642ppm Cu from 12m.
Lodestar says the 4m to 16m interval in LEA0092 straddles the transported sediment/in situ weathered bedrock boundary, with coarse-grained conglomerate and siltstone hosting the 4m @ 3,674ppm Cu. This is accompanied by elevated silver, cobalt, bismuth, nickel, and tin grading 8ppm, 122ppm, 7.4ppm, 6,710ppm, and 141ppm, respectively.
However, the company reports copper values of more than 500ppm also occur within the weathered bedrock between 12m and 16m in LEA0091, and in the adjacent LEA0064, there is also elevated copper, with 4m @ 1,329ppm copper, 872ppm arsenic, 265ppm cobalt, 328ppm nickel, and 1,020ppm vanadium.
Lodestar says the presence of other elements such as arsenic, silver, cobalt, bismuth, and lead that are coincident with copper gives the company extra confidence that these intersections are related to a mineralised system or systems, particularly as the weathered bedrock and regolith that drilling has penetrated is usually depleted in mineral concentrations as the primary mineralisation is dispersed upon weathering.
The company says AC drilling is a useful drilling method for first-pass regional drilling but has very limited capacity to penetrate fresh bedrock. As a result, follow-up deeper RC and diamond core drilling is required, particularly in areas where there is ‘significant’ anomalism in adjacent drillholes such as LEA004 and LEA0091, where the nature of the results suggest a nearby source in the bedrock for the ‘high-grade’ mineralisation intersected.
Commenting on the initial copper results, Lodestar Managing Director Ed Turner says: “We continue to be very encouraged by the early indications from our maiden drilling program at Earaheedy.
These results confirm the potential of the project to host multiple copper-gold deposits given significant mineralisation was intersected at 5 targets spread over a wide area.
“these results are very significant and have identified multiple targets that warrant deeper RC and diamond core drilling”
This first-pass aircore drilling cannot penetrate fresh bedrock, which may host massive sulphide mineralisation beneath the regolith and weathered bedrock, so these results are very significant and have identified multiple targets that warrant deeper RC and diamond core drilling. This drilling is now being planned and is expected to commence in September.
Following the recently announced significant gold intersections, these copper intersections further validate our geological model, which has gold and copper being associated, much the same as the high-grade VMS copper-gold DeGrussa deposit within the region.”
Lodestar Minerals is a Western Australian base metal, lithium, and gold explorer focused on its wholly owned Earaheedy, Jubilee Well, and Coolgardie West projects.
Along with its wholly owned assets, the company also holds a 20% interest in the Kangaroo Hills Lithium Project with Future Battery Minerals (ASX:FBM) and is earning a 51% interest in Vango Mining’s (ASX:VAN) Ned’s Creek Joint Venture (JV). As of 30 June 2023, Lodestar had $637,000 cash at hand according to its latest quarterly report published on 31 July 2023.
Write to Harry Mulholland at Mining.com.au
Images: Lodestar Minerals Ltd
Lodestar Minerals (ASX:LSR) is planning follow-up reverse circulation (RC) drilling to extend the depth and strike length of its Earaheedy Project in Western Australia.
As stated in its latest quarterly report, the $18.43 million market capitalisation company completed a maiden aircore (AC) drilling program that intersected gold for the first time at the project during the June quarter, with 99 holes completed across 7 targets for 5,386m.
Lodestar reported ‘significant’ gold intersections, including hole LEA0008 with 7m @ 1.03g/t Au from 36m and LEA0021 with 8m @ 0.95g/t Au from 56m, including 4m @ 1.69g/t Au from 56m, were returned from 3 of the 7 targets.
While all gold assays from the maiden AC drilling program have been returned, Lodestar says all copper and multi-element assays are pending and are expected to be returned in August 2023. A soil sampling program comprising 2,200 samples is also underway at the project.
During the June quarter, Lodestar acquired Tripod Resources, which owns 2 granted exploration licences within the Earaheedy Basin, for $65,200 cash and 24.96 million Lodestar shares at $0.005 each. Along with applications for 3 additional tenements, this acquisition expanded the total footprint of Earaheedy to 1,420km-square.
At the 20% held Kangaroo Hills Lithium Project, shared with Future Battery Minerals (ASX:FBM), Lodestar says 27 RC holes for 3,216m and 5 diamond holes for 313m were completed at the project under a phase two drilling program.
Lodestar reported the assay results further support the ‘significance’ of the initial March 2023 discovery at the Big Red prospect, while a series of vertical holes testing the fresh mineralised pegmatite confirmed the shallow thick ‘high-grade’ mineralisation that remains open to the north and northwest.
These results indicate further follow-up drilling is needed to test for extensions to the mineralisation. Following a recent geophysical review, a resistivity anomaly was identified within Big Red, further indicating a potential strike up to 1km in a north-northwest direction and extending from the current drilling area and highlighting the potential scale of the prospect.
Meanwhile, a single drillhole completed at the Rocky prospect intercepted a spodumene-bearing pegmatite returning 5m @ 1.12% Li2O from 104m.
Lodestar said these occurrences validate Rocky, which lies 500m from Big Red and remains open to the south and east and is possibly connected. The company reports ‘high-priority’ infill and extensional drilling are now required to further understand the nature of the pegmatites in this area and their association with Big Red.
Phase three drilling will see 4,000m of RC drilling completed, along with diamond and infill drilling to test the ‘high-priority’ Rocky and Eastern Grey prospects and other regional prospects, including Wallaroo and Pademelon.
As a Program and Work (PoW) and permits are received, the program will expand on the remaining target areas, including Big Red North, Western Grey, and Quokka, while diamond drilling will be further used within the Big Red discovery zone to investigate the structural constraints of the pegmatite and provide ‘high-quality’ samples for detailed geological analysis.
Core samples will also be used in early-stage metallurgical testwork, with results expected in the September 2023 quarter.
During the June Quarter, Lodestar and Future Battery Minerals sold the jointly held Nepean Nickel Project in Western Australia for $10 million, of which Lodestar will receive $2 million due to holding a 20% interest in the project.
The company also entered an at-the-market (ATM) subscription agreement with Acuity Capital, providing up to $2 million of standby equity capital to 31 July 2026. As security for the ATM, Lodestar agreed to place 80 million shares at nil cash consideration to Acuity Capital. These shares can be re-purchased for nil consideration upon early termination or maturity of the ATM.
Lodestar has full discretion to use the ATM, and if it does, it will be able to set the issue price floor at its sole discretion, with the final issue price calculated as the greater of the nominated floor price and up to a 10% discount to a volume-weighted average price (VWAP) over a period of its choosing. The company closed out the quarter with $637,000 cash at hand on 30 June 2023.
Commenting on the company’s work over the June quarter, Lodestar Minerals Managing Director Ed Turner says: “The June quarter was a significant period for Lodestar, highlighted by the commencement of our maiden drilling program at our flagship Earaheedy Project, which has already yielded some very encouraging outcomes. First-pass drilling at Earaheedy has highlighted the clear potential for both base metal and gold mineralisation, so we are eager to further test our suite of priority targets in the near term.
“First-pass drilling at Earaheedy has highlighted the clear potential for both base metal and gold mineralisation”
On the lithium front, exciting progress continues to be made by our JV partners Future Battery Minerals at the rapidly emerging Kangaroo Hills Lithium Project in WA. Drilling continues to expand the scale of the project, delivering consistent shallow, thick, high-grade lithium intersections.
Lodestar remains committed to unlocking further value this quarter through our systematic exploration, including the commencement of RC drilling at Earaheedy to follow up the positive outcomes from recently completed aircore drilling.
Lodestar Minerals is a Western Australian base metals, lithium, and gold explorer focused on its Earaheedy, Jubilee Well, and Coolgardie West projects. The company also holds a 20% interest in the Kangaroo Hills Lithium Project shared with Future Battery Minerals and is earning a 51% interest at Vango Mining’s (ASX:VAN) Ned’s Creek JV.
Write to Harry Mulholland at Mining.com.au
Images: Lodestar Minerals Ltd
Lodestar Minerals (ASX:LSR) has kicked off aircore drilling at its Earaheedy project in Western Australia. The company’s Managing Director Ed Turner says the project bears similarities to Sandfire Resources’ (ASX:SFR) DeGrussa copper mine and hopes to see volcanic and sedimentary rocks from this first round of drilling.
