Boadicea Resources Ltd (ASX:BOA) has enhanced the critical minerals opportunity at the Two Tanks Prospect west of Mt Ida in Western Australia with drilling revealing numerous pegmatites with some fractionation pointing to potential lithium mineralisation.
The 18-hole aircore drilling program drilled 1,296 metres and multi-element assays recently received confirm a consistent degree of fractionation, as indicated by the K/Rb ratio.
Most units showed a ratio of below 40, consistent with a fractionated pegmatitic unit and the company is planning more work to further understand prospectivity.
Another development in BOA’s critical minerals strategy has been the final award of Ant Hill tenement (E63/2231) in the highly prospective Lake Johnston region of WA.
TMG stake sold
This focus has been enhanced with the company selling its stake in Trigg Minerals Ltd (TMG) for $306,551. These shares were sold at market value on the day of sale.
The shareholding in TMG was part of the consideration paid by TMG when buying a 90% interest in four Queensland tenements from BOA in the first quarter of 2024.
BOA is free carried by TMG for its remaining 10% interest in the four tenements.
“Aligns with strategy”
BOA managing director Cath Norman said: “This divestment aligns with our strategy to focus on our primary exploration assets in Western Australia and maximise value for our shareholders.
"The proceeds from this sale will enhance our financial flexibility and support our ongoing exploration drilling activities across our portfolio.
"BOA is preparing to drill at the Bald Hill East and Cat Camp tenements in Q3, both highly prospective for lithium. In addition, plans are underway to follow with drilling a strong base metal target at the Fraser South Project in the Fraser Range.
"We retain a 10% interest in the Queensland tenement operated by TMG and wish them every success.”
Location of BOA’s lithium-focused portfolio of tenements.
Two Tanks work
BOA's drilling campaign at Two Tanks also investigated the positioning and characteristics of the Copperfield Granite contact, with several holes designed to intersect and drill past the contact.
This targeting was successful in defining and characterising the contact to a prospect-level accuracy and will aid in future drill hole planning.
BOA advises that due to the lack of multiple pierce points within the same pegmatitic unit, no inference can be made about the downhole trends of fractionation or lithium grade. At this stage, the drilling has not produced a clearly defined trend.
Establishing depth trends to pegmatite fractionation and potentially lithium grades will be a key part of the future strategy of exploration at Two Tanks.
Ant Hill tenement
The company has been notified that the award of the Ant Hill tenement has been finalised and exploration activities may now begin.
This tenement is core to BOA’s lithium exploration portfolio with additional prospectivity for nickel and gold and is in the highly prospective Lake Johnston region of WA.
Ant Hill is in the highly prospective greenstones that are the host rocks for the Emily Ann and Maggie Hays nickel mines and multiple emerging lithium prospects.
Drilling preparations
BOA is making preparations for drilling next quarter at the Bald Hill East and Cat Camp prospects with relevant heritage surveys planned.
These two tenements are key assets in BOA’s lithium exploration portfolio along with the Two Tanks and Ant Hill tenements.
Bald Hill East is around 2 kilometres from the Bald Hill lithium mine, operated by Mineral Resources, and the region is a known source of commercial-scale lithium-tantalum mineralisation hosted within lithium-caesium-tantalum (LCT) pegmatites.
BOA has signed a Heritage Protection Agreement with the Ngadju Corporation to progress exploration activities at Bald Hill East.
A potential strike extension to the Bald Hill lithium deposit has been interpreted to extend southeast into the Bald Hill East tenement and only 3 kilometres from the deposit. This target area will be the focus of the forthcoming drill program.
The Cat Camp Lithium-Nickel project is about 425 kilometres east of Perth in the emerging lithium region of Lake Johnston.
A surface geochemical survey was conducted in 2023 where elevated lithium anomalism (>40ppm Li2O) was identified.
This will be the focus area for the 2024 drilling campaign for which BOA is planning approximately 21 holes for 1800 metres.