Yinnetharra Exploration Update
Perth, June 20, 2024 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Delta Lithium Limited (
ASX:DLI) is pleased to announce an update for the ongoing exploration activities at its 100% owned Yinnetharra Lithium Project in the Gascoyne region of Western Australia.
The Company's recent drilling results continue to demonstrate a high grade, spodumene rich mineralised system present at Jamesons, albeit in a complex geological setting. Delta plans to use further drillholes to assist in identifying the orientation of the fractionated spodumene core of the main J1 pegmatite, which is showing Li2O intervals in excess of 1% at up to 225 metres down hole in our deepest drilling so far in JREX014.
Infill drilling at the Malinda Prospect continues to demonstrate quality lithium intercepts from surface with the dominant lithium bearing mineral being spodumene.
Commenting on the results Managing Director, James Croser said;
"We are thrilled with the high-quality results from the ongoing drill program at Yinnetharra. The Company is systematically undertaking numerous workstreams to facilitate the early planning of the potential development of Malinda into a lithium mine and in support of an application for the Mining Lease.
Exploration at Jamesons has been impacted by the first significant rainfall in 12 months at Yinnetharra, resulting in the Morrissey River limiting the drill crews' access for several weeks. Whilst it is still early days at Jamesons, we are very encouraged by the local definition of stand-out grade spodumene mineralisation sitting within the wider package of stacked pegmatites that warrant detailed investigation.
Delta has completed geotechnical diamond drilling at Malinda to support PFS level study open pit design and is now commencing a five-tonne metallurgy sample collection program via PQ coring of anticipated production areas."
Yinnetharra Exploration
The Yinnetharra project is in the Gascoyne region of Western Australia targeting Lithium mineralisation. Delta Lithium has 1,769km2 of tenure owned outright and as Farm-in Joint Ventures. A maiden MRE was released in December 2023 of 25.7Mt @ 1% Li2O. Farm-In Joint Venture Agreements have expanded the prospective stratigraphy to over 80km in length.
The Company has continued to actively explore at Yinnetharra with two (2) drill rigs currently operating at the Malinda prospect and one (1) rig operating at the Jameson prospect, supported by multiple field teams undertaking detailed geological mapping and surface sampling. Ongoing exploration will support the expansion and further definition of target prospects across the wider Yinnetharra package of tenure.
Delta has received results during the quarter from the Jameson tenement demonstrating spodumene bearing pegmatites present from surface. Stratigraphy at the Jameson prospect is folded. Lithium anomalism at Jameson is present as a coherent soil geochemistry anomaly >150ppm Li2O approximately 600m long parallel with stratigraphy. Pegmatites cross cut stratigraphy trending NE-SW. Drilling orientations at Jameson were initially chosen to intercept the regional trend of stratigraphy in a perpendicular manner, access considerations and a desire to test pegmatite orientations account for the variety of drill hole orientations.
Geological interpretation of Jamesons is ongoing with more information becoming available as the Company progresses drilling and mapping. Orientations of mineralised LCT pegmatite are understood to be striking NNE-SSW dipping moderately to the ESE. Delta continues to drill at Jameson with further results to be released in due course.
Drilling completed to date at Malinda has demonstrated quality lithium intercepts from surface with the dominant lithium bearing mineral being spodumene. Recent highlights can be seen below in Table 1* and Figure 3*, with a full list of recent results in Appendix 2*. Further along strike extensions to M36 have been found, as well as near surface eastern extensions to M42 and a new near surface mineralised pegmatite in M20.The Company is very pleased with the results received to date.
Lithium resources are largely present in three main pegmatites at Malinda from surface to a depth of >300m although recent drilling has demonstrated in near surface mineralisation from two other pegmatites M42 and M20. Metallurgical test work is ongoing with initial results demonstrating the potential for high recovery of spodumene to high grade low impurity concentrates.
Malinda Metallurgy
Delta is completing further metallurgical work to improve the understanding of the ore body variability and to better estimate laboratory scale up factors. Subsequent to the initial test work on M1 and M47 composite samples (see ASX announcement 21/08/2023), the Company has recently completed a limited number of scoping batch flotation tests on low grade ore composites from 0.6% to 1% Li2O. The Low Grade Variability composites were developed from M1 drill core and were specifically chosen to evaluate the preliminary processing flowsheet to treat mineralised material with grade between the resource cutoff grade and the potential mining cutoff grade, as can reasonably be expected to be included in the ore stream via mining dilution.
The results of the Low Grade Variability testwork (Table 2*) showed encouraging 70-84% global recoveries for the bench-scale batch tests. It should be noted that for comparative purposes, in contrast to the 'Sighter Testwork' the 'Low Grade Variability' tests did not include a magnetic separation stage in the testwork flowsheet. Going forward, Delta plans to include a magnetic separation stage to manage concentrate iron grades.
Current testwork being undertaken employs a whole of ore flotation flowsheet, where crushed ore is milled before desliming and magnetic separation. The non-magnetic material then feeds a mica pre-flotation stage which precedes spodumene flotation.
This current testwork is focussing on spatial and geo-metallurgical domain variability testing of the M1 pegmatite. The scope of work includes specific testing addressing early mine phases as well as exploring opportunities to simplify the existing process flowsheet. Work is planned to include locked cycle flotation testwork and a pilot plant treating 5 tonnes of ore. The pilot testing aims to validate the final flowsheet and provide better estimates for batch test scale up factors. Drilling of PQ core and collection of the pilot sample is currently underway.
*To view tables and figures, please visit:
https://abnnewswire.net/lnk/915I1A04
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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