Critical to the global energy transition, lithium is facing a large, long-term deficit in the coming years ahead amid supply challenges. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), global battery and mineral supply chains need to expand 10-fold to meet projected critical minerals needs by 2030.
Having recognised lithium as the most in-demand energy transition metal, Premier1 Lithium Ltd (ASX:PLC) has focused its efforts on lithium and critical minerals exploration.
Previously known as SensOre Ltd with the ASX code S3N, the company has split its technology and exploration assets. It privatised its minerals software and AI technology business, while Premier1 sharpened its focus on the exploration of critical minerals, including hard rock lithium, in line with growing global demand.
This strategic division marked a new era, with the company pivoting towards a more focused exploration strategy while leveraging technological innovation for growth.
Abbotts North Lithium Project
Premier1 Lithium projects are in the heart of Western Australia’s renowned greenstone belts, home to the world’s largest lithium-bearing lithium-caesium-tantalum (LCT) pegmatite deposits.
Central to the company’s portfolio of exploration assets is the highly prospective Abbotts North Lithium Project in the Murchison region of Western Australia.
This is the company’s most advanced project, where several pegmatite dykes were discovered via the application of SensOre’s proprietary artificial intelligence (AI)/machine learning (ML) approach, plus initial confirmation mapping and sampling.
The targets were generated through machine learning where the lithium potential within the greenstone belt had previously been unrecognised and no previous lithium exploration activities has been undertaken
Buttamiah Prospect
The project’s main Buttamiah Prospect has returned encouraging assays with lithium oxide (Li2O) concentrations of up to 1.25%.
Buttamiah is within a largely basaltic sequence of the Abbots Greenstone belt, which consists of a succession of mafic and ultramafic units as well as felsic volcanics and sediments. The pegmatite dykes indicate a highly fractionated, fertile field, having potassium/rubidium ratios less than 10.
The outcropping pegmatites in the vicinity of the anomalous area — which returned up to 1.25% lithium oxide in surface rock chip samples — are on average 2-3 metres wide and up to 350 metres long.
These pegmatites can be traced under cover to the east over an area of 1.5 kilometres within the Buttamiah Prospect.
Joint venture projects
In addition to its flagship Abbott’s North Project, Premier1 has a pipeline of Western Australian joint venture interests that complement its portfolio. These are the Yalgoo and Yalgoo West projects, the Montague Project and the Gecko North Project.
The company continues exploration activities at Abbott’s North and has planned extensive surface exploration work at the greater Yalgoo, Montague and Gecko North lithium projects to develop the pipeline of projects and drill targets.
Yalgoo and Yalgoo West
The Yalgoo and Yalgoo West projects represent key components of Premier1 Lithium’s exploration portfolio.
These projects were identified through machine learning as being highly prospective for lithium.
Premier1 Lithium is in the process of earning 70% of the lithium rights from Venture Minerals for the Yalgoo project and 80% of all mineral rights except for rare earth elements (REE) from Firetail Resources for the Yalgoo West project.
Montague
At the Montague Project, Premier1 Lithium is exploring untapped lithium potential identified within a greenstone belt, a process guided by machine learning.
This project area, previously not explored for lithium, is now under evaluation for its potential.
Leveraging SensOre technology
The company continues to pursue new opportunities using the successful technology methodology that it used to identify the existing projects and has plans to extend the search beyond Western Australia.
An overview of the now-demerged mineral software and AI technology business can be found at www.intrepid-geophysics.com/products/ and https://sensore.com/technology/.
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