Alchemy Resources Ltd (ASX:ALY) has moved to extensive regional soil geochemical sampling of lithium and gold targets at the Karonie and Lake Rebecca projects in WA after completing a lithium-focused gravity survey at four prospects.
The project-wide soil sampling has started on high-priority lithium targets aiming to cover the Roe Hills and Manhattan prospect areas, which are immediately to the west and east and contiguous with the Manna deposit prospects of Global Lithium Resources Ltd (ASX:GL1).
Alchemy will also conduct soil sampling on prospects at Lake Rebecca that showed prospective 'Goldilocks Zone' geology revealed after company geologists conducted a site visit last November.
Gravity survey completed
Meantime, results are expected later this month from the data processing of a lithium-focused gravity survey completed in a 5.4-kilometre x 1.6-kilometre corridor at Cherry, Hickory, Mesquite and Pecan prospects.
The company has also started high-resolution drone magnetics in this area which are expected to assist in targeting on the Hickory gravity corridor.
Additional zones are being flown over potential gold-bearing structures at Karonie Project south of Silver Lake Resources’ Aldiss Mining operations.
Stepping up fieldwork
Chief executive officer James Wilson said: “We are pleased to complete the larger gravity survey at Hickory with the aim of mapping the pegmatite structures over a large area towards Pecan.
"In tandem with this, the high-resolution drone magnetics over this area will provide additional layers of detail to assist with drill targets.
"We are also kicking off regional soils programs which will give us a broader picture of lithium anomalism surrounding the Manna Project at Alchemy’s Roe Hills Prospect to the west and our Manhattan Prospect to the east, as well as lithium prospective areas at Lake Rebecca to the north.
"At the same time, we continue to progress gold exploration with the high-resolution drone magnetics to the south of Silver Lake’s Aldiss Operations which will give us near-term targets to test.”
Within lithium and gold region
The company’s Karonie and Lake Rebecca projects are within a prolific region.
Roe Hills prospect lies along a distinctive structural trend from the pegmatite field that hosts the Manna lithium deposit of 32.7 million tonnes at 1.0% Li2O 5 kilometres to the northeast.
Soil sampling was originally targeting gold and as a result, coverage of the prospective areas is limited.
The current soil sampling at Roe Hills aims to gain a complete dataset on the western side of the Cardunia granite adjacent to the Manna lithium deposit.
Manhattan prospect is immediately east of GL1’s Manna project. Alchemy conducted shallow RAB drilling for gold exploration in 2018, intersecting coarse-grained fractionated dolerites near the regional granite contact.
The area has seen no modern exploration for lithium and only limited gold exploration despite being along the Claypan shear which extends towards Breaker Resources’ nearby 1.7-million-ounce Lake Roe gold deposit.
Multi-element soil sampling is designed on a 400 x 400-metre offset grid to test for lithium pathfinder anomalies adjacent to the buried granite underneath Lake Roe.
Lake Rebecca
Lake Rebecca Project is 110 kilometres east of Kalgoorlie in a highly prospective geological setting, covering greenstones, numerous internal granites and known gold-bearing structures.
It is 10 kilometres southeast of Northern Star Resources’ 4.3-million-ounce Carosue Dam deposit and 6 kilometres west of Ramelius Resources’ 1.2-million-ounce Rebecca deposit.
During the visit of Alchemy’s geologists in November 2022, multiple feldspar-rich granite dykes were mapped adjacent to the small regional granite intrusions within the interpreted ‘Goldilocks Zone’ for pegmatite formation.
A coarse-grained quartz-feldspar pegmatite was seen during the field reconnaissance visit.
Soil sampling is designed to test for lithium anomalism on a 400 X 400-metre offset grid targeting areas where known amphibolite facies metamorphic grade rocks occur, which are the ideal conditions for lithium-caesium-tantalum (LCT) pegmatites to form.
Work program
Alchemy has submitted access agreements and programs of work to facilitate upcoming drill programs.
The company is planning:
- Finalise interpretation of the gravity survey data in combination with the high-resolution drone magnetics.
- Commence ground-truthing of results and potential target areas from the expanded gravity survey.
- Complete heritage surveys to allow for future drill programs.
- Assess broader regional prospectivity at southern Karonie tenements.