Patagonia Lithium (ASX:PL3) has commenced drilling at well eight at the Cilon Lithium Project in Argentina’s Jujuy province.
The company reports drilling has reached a depth of 38m, with a 30m steel casing inserted and concreted to maintain vertical alignment.
The first packer assay test is scheduled for 70m depth, with a target depth of 600m for the well.
Executive Chairman Phillip Thomas says the team is targeting 25m per day drilling progress, with eight hours allocated for each packer assay test.
“The cores will be critical to upgrading our mineral resource estimate, but so far porosity is looking good,” Thomas says.
Core samples from 30m to 38m depth show unconsolidated, well-sorted fine to very fine brown sands composed predominantly of rounded quartz grains and minor mafic minerals, exhibiting high visual porosity.
The company has completed and lodged responses to permit applications and environmental impact assessment requirements with Jujuy’s Department of Mining for its planned demonstration plant.
Patagonia has also wrapped up a community meeting at Olaroz, with minutes lodged with the Jujuy mines department as a precursor to the mining environmental management unit (UGAMP) community and government meeting for construction signoff approvals.
Patagonia holds a 551,000-tonne lithium carbonate equivalent mineral resource estimate at its Formentera/Cilon project, comprising 14,800 tonnes at 393 milligrams per litre (mg/L) indicated and 536,600 tonnes at 292mg/L inferred resources.
The company plans to conduct 72-hour pumping tests once the well is lined with slotted polyvinyl chloride casing.
Patagonia intends to use the drilling results to support an updated mineral resource estimate for the project.
Patagonia Lithium is focused on its major lithium brine projects in Argentina, while exploring for ionic rare earth element clays, niobium, antimony, and lithium in its assets in Brazil.
Write to Paula Fabe at Mining.com.au
Images: Patagonia Lithium
