Lithium Energy Ltd (ASX:LEL) has intersected its highest lithium grade to date in the upper aquifer at its flagship Solaroz Lithium Brine Project in Argentina, with assay results returning 483 mg/L lithium from a depth of 233 to 257 metres.
Drilling at SOZDD007 in the upper aquifer of the newly drilled Payo 1 concession has confirmed a continuous 110-metre intersection of lithium-rich brines from 185 metres.
Encouraged by the results, the company has increased the target depth to 750 metres from the current 600 metres as drilling transitions from halite to the deep sand unit in the lower aquifer.
SOZDD007 is a step-out drill hole from the resource area that defined Solaroz’s maiden mineral resource estimate of 3.3 million tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent.
Within the resource, there is a high-grade core of 1.34 milllion tonnes of LCE with an average concentration of 405 mg/l lithium, at a cut-off grade of 350 mg/l lithium, notably below the latest brine grade.
Solaroz drilling highlights to date.
Extending to the north
Lithium Energy executive chairman William Johnson said: “We are extremely pleased to have encountered the highest grade of lithium to date in the upper aquifer at Solaroz, at drill hole 7 in the Payo 1 concession.
“This result confirms the potential for continuity of lithium grades to the north of the Solaroz concessions.
“One of the assumptions in our initial maiden 3.3 million tonnes LCE mineral resource estimate was that, in the absence of drilling data in the northern part of the Solaroz concessions at time of the MRE, the lithium grades at Solaroz would decline to the north.
“These initial results from drill hole 7 indicate that this may not be the case.
“We keenly await the next assay results as drilling transitions into the deep sand unit in hole 7 as we test this target to a depth of 750 metres.”
Mightier drill rig
The latest lithium grade at SOZDD007 is higher than that encountered at a similar depth in SOZDD003, about 6 kilometres south, although both share similarities where the halite layer extends over a thickness of 216 metres between 283 to 499 metres depth.
Drilling at SOZDD003 returned results of 397 mg/l lithium at 231.5 to 248 metres before it was terminated at 590 metres due to rig limitations.
The company is using a larger rig for SOZDDOO7, with drilling ongoing at a current depth of about 640 metres.
The search continues
At drill hole SOZDD008 in the Chico I concession, drilling has commenced to follow up on massive intersections of lithium-rich brines along a 15-kilometre zone in the upper and lower aquifers of the deep sand unit.
Drilling here previously intersected lithium-rich brines up to 489 metres thick in SOZDD005, with lithium concentrations of up to 594 mg/l in SOZDD006.
Drilling at SOZDD008 is at about 106 metres and transitioning from brackish water to brine based on in-hole airlift sampling.
The target depth for drilling here is 550 metres below surface.
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