SensOre Ltd (ASX:S3N) has received $322,000 in NSW Government grant funding to support the growth of its technology platform and extend lithium pegmatite and other battery mineral targeting initiatives to the east coast.
This comes after the company’s final submission met the requirements for funding from the NSW Critical Minerals and High-Tech Metals Activation Fund Stream.
The company’s new remote sensing techniques, deployed most recently in South Australia, will be trialled in areas of NSW not currently known for lithium prospectivity, potentially opening up new exploration terranes.
Seeking new sources
SensOre CEO Richard Taylor said: "We are thrilled to have received support from the NSW Government for our technology, allowing us to expand our data platform and explore untapped areas for lithium.
"With the use of cutting-edge remote sensing and AI/machine learning methods, we are confident that we will be able to identify new sources of this critical mineral and open up new opportunities for exploration and growth in NSW."
SensOre will look at new approaches to remote sensing and targeting spodumene mineral-bearing lithium, caesium, tantalum (LCT) pegmatites in NSW.
Leveraging technology advances
The project design leverages significant advances that have been made in remote sensing and combined application of large geochemical datasets to explore for spodumene occurrences in pegmatites.
This will look at the effectiveness of remote sensing approaches, largely radiometric data, and the application of large geochemical data to fertility indicators on granites to predict potential associated LCT pegmatite and then use for direct targeting the mineral spodumene.
Spodumene is the primary mineral for economic hard rock lithium deposits.
Reaching out to NSW
In NSW, the company’s lithium targeting initiative will involve expanding SensOre’s data platform, comprising geochemical, geophysical and geological data layers to incorporate the state.
Research will be undertaken in two activities to be undertaken parallel with the first involving using the comprehensive whole-rock geochemistry of granitic rocks to predict and then identify high lithium-bearing pegmatites.
The second will involve developing and deploying new caesium elemental response techniques using full spectral gamma ray surveying.
This targeting exercise will use fused results from geochemistry and geophysics, using advanced AI and machine learning technology approaches.
A result of the work will be litho-geochemical and mineral prospectivity maps over NSW for LCT pegmatites and other critical minerals.
About the fund
The NSW Critical Minerals and High-Tech Metals Strategy outlines the State Government’s commitment to drive investment into the critical minerals and high-tech metals sector across the entire supply chain in NSW.
This strategy outlines the market opportunities for critical minerals and high-tech metals in NSW, including the specific investment and job-creating opportunities and competitive advantages for NSW to establish a viable, valuable and sustainable sector.
To realise this strategy, the NSW Government has established the $130 million Critical Minerals and High-Tech Metals Activation Fund to drive investment and support the development of the sector.
The fund aims to position regional NSW as a major global supplier and processor of critical minerals and high-tech metals.