Mt Ida Maiden Gold Mineral Resource Estimate
Perth, Oct 11, 2023 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Delta Lithium Limited (
ASX:DLI) is pleased to announce a maiden gold MRE for its 100% owned Mt Ida Lithium Project in the Goldfields region of Western Australia.
The independent maiden gold MRE has been prepared by Snowden Optiro for the Mt Ida Lithium Project.
Delta's Managing Director, James Croser comments;
"The definition of Delta's maiden gold resource at Mt Ida, predominantly within the existing Mining Leases, is a tremendous value add at the Mt Ida Lithium Project.
The key highlight of this MRE is the favourable location of the gold ore adjacent to the top of the Sister Sam lithium ore, potentially allowing mining to occur within the same planned pit shell whilst adding minimal incremental cost to the open pit operation. This affords us significant ability to derisk as we progress mining studies.
While further metallurgical work on the gold mineralisation will be conducted, there are several gold processing plants in the region and discussions will be conducted to investigate downstream processing options."
The Mineral Resource Estimate
The maiden independent gold MRE was prepared by Snowden Optiro on multiple gold lodes at the Company's wholly owned Mt Ida Lithium Project in the Eastern Goldfields Region of Western Australia.
Delta has drilled 178 drill holes for 35,619 metres, providing the basis to report an Indicated Mineral Resource Estimate ("MRE").
Gold results from ongoing drilling has underpinned this maiden gold MRE at Mt Ida. The drilling has defined two new high grade shallow gold discoveries; the Baldock 086 lode and the North Meteor 140 lode. Table 4* below details new gold results received and differentiates between which results are included in this maiden MRE and which will be included in a later MRE update.
The maiden gold MRE also considered gold mineralisation at the Kestrel prospect located to the east of the granite. The drilling completed to date at Kestrel has been undertaken by previous owners of the project.
Next steps for the Mt Ida Lithium Project
Grade control drilling is underway for Mt Ida with a focus on the shallow portion of the Sister Sam lithium mineralisation as well as the adjacent gold mineralisation, to enable detailed mine plannning to feed into operational planning for early works.
Resource drilling is progressing with diamond drill rigs for the purpose of converting the remaining lithium and gold Inferred Mineral Resources for inclusion in future resource updates.
Significant potential for additional gold resources exists outside of the area where gold has already been identified as shown in Figure 8*.
Metallurgical testwork to date on Mt Ida core has returned global lithia recoveries for a whole-of-ore flotation flowsheet of 76 - 83% for both concentrate products. The sale or toll treatment of a gold ore is set to provide a third revenue stream in addition to the anticipated lithia concentrate products which would be produced from the base-case process flowsheet.
Feasibility studies are underway for the longer-term lithium concentrate project. Metallurgical drilling is ongoing with a DFS level metallurgical testwork program to commence in the coming weeks.
Further metallurgical work will be undertaken on drill core and RC chips for gold specific studies.
Geotechnical work is progressing, focussed on potential underground and open pit mining.
Several options exist for the sale or toll treatment of gold ore in the vicinity of Mt Ida.
*To view tables and figures, please visit:
https://abnnewswire.net/lnk/97G1K94Q
About Delta Lithium Limited
Delta Lithium Limited (ASX:DLI) is an exploration and development company focused on bringing high-quality, lithium-bearing pegmatite deposits, located in Western Australia, into production. With a strong balance sheet and an experienced team driving the exploration and development workstreams, Delta Lithium is rapidly advancing its Mt Ida Lithium Project towards production. The Mt Ida Lithium Project holds a critical advantage over other lithium developers with existing Mining Leases and heritage agreements in place. To capitalise on the prevailing buoyant lithium market, Delta Lithium is pursuing a rapid development pathway to unlock maximum value for shareholders.
Delta Lithium also holds the highly prospective Yinnetharra Lithium Project that is already showing signs of becoming one of Australia's most exciting lithium regions. The Company is currently undergoing an extensive 400 drill hole campaign to be completed throughout 2023.
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