Perpetual Resources (ASX:PEC) has executed its drilling contract with ServDrill Brazil for an approximately 1,500m diamond drilling program at the Igrejinha Lithium Project in Minas Gerais, Brazil.
The rig, crew, and supporting equipment are mobilising to site, with drilling expected to commence in coming days.
The program comprises about 22 holes across the Mauricio and Morro Grande prospects. Drilling will target the interpreted continuation of pegmatite systems along strike and beneath the intensely weathered near-surface profile.
The company says the diamond drilling will provide continuous core through the targeted pegmatite systems.
At the same time, the program aims to improve understanding of pegmatite geometry, thickness, structural orientation, mineralogical zonation, and the distribution of lithium-bearing minerals.
At Morro Grande, historical selective rock-chip sampling around artisanal workings returned grades of up to 7.6% lithium oxide (Li2O), while subsequent Perpetual samples returned greater than 5% Li2O.
Recent field work reconfirmed spodumene-like pseudomorphs within the weathered pegmatite.
Trenching completed during 2026 confirmed pegmatite across four trenches at Mauricio, with apparent thicknesses from about 2m to 11m. The company’s interpretation defines the priority target over at least 350m of strike.
The 2025 maiden reverse circulation campaign intersected pegmatite but returned generally modest lithium grades, largely because much of the drilling tested strongly weathered material.
In tropical weathering environments, lithium can be mobile and progressively leached from near-surface pegmatite. This means grades within the weathered profile may not represent the underlying rock.
Executive Chairman Julian Babarczy says Igrejinha has already demonstrated a mineralised pegmatite system.
“At Mauricio, we now have a substantial interpreted pegmatite target extending for at least 350m of strike, while at Morro Grande we are drilling beneath an intensely weathered system where surface sampling has previously returned very high lithium grades,” Babarczy notes.
“The objective of this diamond program is to test these priority targets with continuous core and establish what the pegmatite system looks like beneath the weathered profile.”
Perpetual intends to submit drill core for laboratory analysis progressively and will update shareholders as material results become available.
Igrejinha sits within Brazil’s Lithium Valley, and Perpetual is earning up to 90% exploration rights.
Perpetual Resources is an Australian critical minerals explorer with a portfolio of assets across Australia and Brazil.
Write to JC Villarba at Mining.com.au
Images: Perpetual Resources
