Caspin Resources Ltd (ASX:CPN) is investigating the lithium potential at its Yarawindah Brook Project given it sits within Western Australia’s southwest Yilgarn craton, in the same geological terrane as the Greenbushes mine — the world’s largest lithium-cesium-tantalum (LCT) pegmatite deposit at 360 million tonnes at 1.5% lithium oxide.
This comes as the company currently progresses opportunities at the Mount Squires Project.
Yarawindah Brook Project
The potential for lithium bearing pegmatites adds to the strategic value of Yarawindah Brook where Caspin is working to discover high-grade PGE-nickel-copper deposits.
Caspin managing director Greg Miles said: “Excellent work by our geological team has recognised Yarawindah Brook to have the right source rocks and the right structural setting for the emplacement of LCT pegmatites.
“We’re in a fortunate position that our systematic soil geochemistry gives us a head start on assessing the lithium prospectivity of the project and in fact shows signs of lithium pathfinder elements such as tin and tantalum.
“These pathfinder elements have also been recognised by previous explorers within and adjacent to our tenements, so we are seeing multiple datasets supporting our conceptual targeting.”
Caspin intends to continue to evaluate the opportunity by expanding its soil geochemistry and mapping coverage across areas with no modern exploration, aiming to define LCT pegmatite drill targets, while continuing to define near-surface high-grade nickel, copper and PGE targets.
The company also pointed to SQM (NYSE:SQM)’s recently announced farm in agreement with Tambourah Metals Ltd (ASX:TMB) to explore for LCT pegmatites on tenements neighbouring Yarawindah. SQM (NYSE:SQM), one of the world’s largest lithium producers, recently invested in Azure Minerals prior to its major lithium discovery at Andover.
The company notes that similar to nickel-copper-PGE exploration, the search for lithium deposits, including tin and tantalum, has been hampered in the West Yilgarn by competing land use and a lack of exposure. But the company has rapidly developed a conceptual targeting model, supported by its own exploration data.
Mount Squires Project
The company also notes that the Mount Squires Project, which has progressed significantly over the past 18 months, will continue to be a priority for Caspin, given the prospectivity of the region for large scale deposits of nickel and copper and its operational advantage and experience in the region.
BHP’s development of the $1.7 billion Nebo-Babel deposits — only 10 kilometres Caspin’s project boundary — provides confidence that new discoveries of nickel and copper can be developed in the region.
Caspian’s recent discovery of rare earth mineralisation has provided another pathway to value creation in parallel with its nickel and copper exploration activities.
Sienna and Auburn prospects
At the Mount Squires Project, Caspin has drilled nine reconnaissance RC holes across the Sienna and Auburn prospects, confirming a 12-kilometre extension of prospective mafic host rocks.
The prospects were defined by anomalous levels of nickel, copper and PGE values in soil geochemistry and, in the case of Sienna, by copper mineralisation in surface rock chips.
The company is now evaluating additional, and often more subtle, nickel-copper targets under greater transported cover along the 12 kilometres intrusive trend, as parts of this trend have only been sampled on very broad 800-metre by 200-metre centres.
Duchess prospect
Also encouraging are recently returned rare earth element (REE) results from the project’s Duchess Prospect, particularly the high proportion of heavy REEs, notably dysprosium and terbium.
The company has engaged Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) to complete preliminary metallurgical test work to evaluate the potential to create chemical or mineralogical concentrates from mineralisation at Duchess.
Miles said,“we’re continuing to evaluate the nickel and copper opportunities at our Mount Squires Project. Drilling of the Sienna and Auburn anomalies was the first test of new targets defined by ultrafine fraction methodology.
“The program has confirmed the presence of suitable host rocks over at least 12 kilometres of strike and provides further encouragement to continue exploring the many other geochemical and geophysical anomalies at the project.”