Venus Metals Corporation Limited (ASX: VMC) exploration licence E57/1078 (VMC 100%) is located in the Mid-West Region of Western Australia, approximately 30 km south of the Youanmi gold mine. The company is exploring lithium mineralisation on this exploration licence, the Youanmi Lithium Project (Figure 1a & 1b).
Figure 1a. Location of the Deep South lithium Target.
Figure 1b. Location of the Deep South lithium Target..
A mapping and sampling field programme has been completed to follow up a prominent Lithium soil anomaly identified on E57/1078 and reported previously (ASX 6 July 2023). The anomaly is identified as the Deep South Target (Figures 1,2), where highly anomalous ultrafinesoil samples (max 305 ppm Li) define a northeast trending anomaly witha strike length of at least 900m (Figure 3).
Highlights
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Two pegmatite outcrops, some 40m apart, with common coarse petalite returned maximum assays of 4.6 %Li2O and 3.26 %Li2O respectively (Table 1). Petalite (LiAlSi4O10) is a lithium mineral with similar composition to spodumene (LiAl(SiO3)2) and is known to contain less impurities than spodumene.
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Additional soil sampling defines a second lithium anomaly that is open to the south and could point to the presence of multiple Lithium pegmatites in the area.
Due to generally poor outcrop in the target area, it is difficult to establish the orientation/extent of the petalite-rich pegmatites at this stage. Infill soil sampling and targeted rock-chip sampling, based on the interpretation of drone imagery, has commenced in preparation for definitive drill testing.
Figure 2. Lithium (ppm) concentrations in ultrafine (UF) soil samples (circles) and new rock-chip samples locations (triangles) on Triangulated Irregular Network (TIN) interpolation image of soil Li assay data. Area of most recent soil sampling outlined in yellow.
Matt Hogan, MD of Venus commented: “The results of the reconnaissance field visit are highly encouraging and warrant further closely spaced soil and rock sampling, with the aim to better define the general outline/dimension of the newly discovered lithium mineralisation and specifically the outcropping petalite zone. Being close to the major, crustal-scale, Youanmi Fault Zone augurs well for the discovery of a cluster of deep-seated pegmatites “.
The reconnaissance fieldwork included the collection of rock-chip samples and an additional 60 soil samples on a 200m x 200m grid. The mapping shows thin sand cover over poorly outcropping bedrock that include mafic/ultramafic and granitoid rocks including pegmatite.Significantly, the mapping discovered two small areas of outcropping Lithium pegmatite in dominantly soil covered terrain some 70m from a 223 ppmLi Ultrafine (UF) soil anomaly (Figure 3). X ray diffraction (XRD) analysis show selected pegmatite specimens from those outcrops are dominantly comprised of the Li-bearing mineral petalite, a lithium aluminium silicate with a composition (LiAlSi4O10) similar to spodumene (LiAl(SiO3)2).
Figure 3. Outcrop of petalite-rich pegmatite (sample 2308006). Inset shows detail of petalite crystal.
Mapped outcrop geology with rock chip sample locations over drone orthophoto.