Ragnar Metals (ASX:RAG) is readying to drill test its high-priority Orrvik Lithium Project in Sweden after channel sampling exposed a wide outcropping spodumene-bearing pegmatite.
Channel sampling revealed an outcropping spodumene-bearing pegmatite extending for 11.55m @ 1.45% lithium, 74 parts per million (ppm) tantalum and 0.03% tin from surface and open to the south.
Included in this interval is a “high-grade” zone of 3m @ 3.11% lithium, 48ppm tantalum and 0.04% tin.
Ragnar says the new target has the potential to widen as the southern contact is concealed undercover.
Executive Director Eddie King says Ragnar now looks to confirm the potential scale of the project as it hunts for further pegmatite swarms throughout the regional land package.
“We are pleased to demonstrate the significant widths of high-grade spodumene-bearing pegmatites at Orrvik,” he says.
“The results paint an obvious drill target and we look forward to updating shareholders in due course of our plans to mobilise for Ragnar’s maiden drill program at Orrvik.”
The most recent field program involved using a diamond saw to sample known exposed outcrops with “significant visible coarse (lithium) spodumene minerals” identified in previous rock sampling programs.
The goal was to use the permits to clear and better expose the spodumene pegmatite outcrop, then effectively sample across strike to determine the true width and grade at surface to assist in later drill targeting of further pegmatite swarms that have been previously identified.
Ragnar says the channel sampling work is “highly encouraging” and supports the view that previous drilling was not at the optimum orientation to intersect the new spodumene pegmatites.
Previous resistivity imaging coupled with these results confirms Orrvik as a high-priority drill prospect targeting a swarm of multiple-stacked pegmatite dykes, according to the company.
Ragnar, which has a market capitalisation of $9.5 million, now plans to undertake drilling to the south-southeast, perpendicular to the east-northeast interpreted strike of the spodumene pegmatite swarms.
This drilling is also aimed at sufficiently testing the resistivity anomalies to test the theory that there are multiple concealed stacked pegmatite bodies.
The Orrvik Lithium Project spans 36km² and hosts two documented spodumene occurrences from shallow drilling that are at surface and 5km apart.
The Orrvik prospect has returned results of up to 3.3% lithium, while rock chip samples taken from the Stenback prospect show grades of up to 2.8% lithium.
Ragnar says Orrvik is located in a “highly prospective district” that is believed to represent the western extent of the well-known Kaustinen Lithium province in Finland, the “largest deposit in Scandinavia”.
Write to Angela East at Mining.com.au
Images: Ragnar Metals
