Shares in Red Dirt Metals (ASX:RDT) closed up over 103% on Tuesday following an announcement that the miner had identified ‘high-grade’ lithium at its recently-acquired Mt Ida project in Western Australia.
The results come from reanalysis of historic drilling, along with surface rock chip sampling over 5km of strike on the western extent of the project’s copperfield granite, with key results including:
- TIC0151: 24m @ 1.84% Li2O and 350ppm Ta2O5 from 160m
- IDRCD068: 26.2m @ 1.84% Li2O, 210ppm Ta2O5 from 283m
- TIC0267: 24m @ 1.49% Li2O and 88ppm Ta2O5 from 150m
- TIC0180: 12m @ 1.70% Li2O and 200 ppm Ta2O5 from 150m
- TIC0121: 9m @ 1.42% Li2O and 101ppm Ta2O5 from 82m
RDT reports that it has identified 44 out of a total of 4,295 drill holes from the Mt Ida dataset that either include pegmatite intercepts or incidental lithium from multi-element assaying. Less than 1% of holes had been assayed for lithium, as focus had previously been placed on other metals, with most drilling occurring pre-2008.
Map displaying drill holes with noted pegmatites intervals or lithium assays at Mt IdaOf note, the unassayed diamond hole IDDD002 encountered 23.2m of spodumene-bearing pegmatite from 252m depth, 50m down-dip of TIC0121 mentioned above.
Speaking on the data review, Red Dirt Metals CEO Matthew Boyes said: “Mt Ida as a gold copper project represents an exceptional land package and Red Dirt was extremely pleased to have completed such a high-quality acquisition. The confirmation that we now have high-grade, high-quality Lithium bearing pegmatites drilled and mapped over considerable widths and strike turns Mt Ida into a company making acquisition. The entire team is extremely excited and focusing its immediate efforts on unlocking what we see to be a significant opportunity in this new Lithium province.”
“The confirmation that we now have high-grade, high-quality Lithium bearing pegmatites turns Mt Ida into a company making acquisition”
The company, previously known as TNT Mines, completed acquisition of Mt Ida from Ora Banda Mining (ASX: OBM) on September 24 with a one-off $11 million cash payment.
First pass exploration at the project is set to commence with RDT securing a high-capacity RC drill rig, with a 25,000m program designed to gain a greater understanding of lithium mineralisation at the project, along with test high-priority gold-copper targets. The company has said that ‘significant’ additional strike potential exists adjacent to the copperfield granite on both western and eastern extremities.
Images: Red Dirt Metals Ltd
