IronRidge Resources Limited, the African focussed minerals exploration company, provides a drilling and exploration update for its Cape Coast Lithium portfolio in Ghana, West Africa.
Highlights include:
- Reverse Circulation (‘RC’) drilling ongoing with over 8,000m drilled to date of a planned 13,200m third phase programme
- Multiple visual spodumene bearing pegmatite zones intersected in drilling at Ewoyaa North, Ewoyaa North-East and Abonko; assays pending
- New coarse spodumene bearing pegmatite discovered in outcrop and trenching at the Kaampakrom target 1km north of resource drilling at Ewoyaa, with over 250m strike and possible extensions to 500m; trenching underway and mineralisation open in both directions
- Drill access and prospecting drill pads completed at the Kaampakrom target; drilling imminent
- New pegmatite discovery at the Ndasiman target approximately 10km west of Ewoyaa; trenching defines 700m strike and up to 100m apparent width
- New pegmatite discovery at the Krofo target approximately 3km north-west of Ewoyaa; trenching defines 400m strike and up to 25m apparent width
- Wet season environmental and social baseline draft report received from Ghanaian consultancy NEMAS Consult; dry season baseline studies to commence
- Targeting Maiden Mineral Resource Estimate for Q1 2020
- Lithium hydroxide conversion test-work at ANSTO underway
Commenting on the Company’s latest progress, Len Kolff, Chief Operating Officer of IronRidge, said:
“Drilling is progressing well with approximately a third of the planned RC and diamond programme remaining. We are pleased to report that drilling has defined new pegmatite zones along the known Ewoyaa deposit footprint, with visual spodumene in RC drill chips and assays pending.
“Ongoing exploration activities; running concurrently with the drill programme and bolstered by an additional dedicated geologist has delivered multiple new pegmatite discoveries at Kaampakrom, Ndasiman and Krofo.
“Target areas prioritised on the basis of the regional soils programme including in-house Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (‘LIBS’) and portable X-Ray Florescence (‘pXRF’) analysis complemented by the regional airborne magnetics survey and reconnaissance field mapping are delivering new pegmatite discoveries; vindicating the methodology and highlighting multiple new target areas.
“The Kaampakrom discovery is especially encouraging given the coarse visible spodumene in outcrop and trenching, and close proximity to the current drilling underway at Ewoyaa 1km away.
“The scale of the Ndasiman pegmatite discovery is promising, with pegmatite exposed in trenching over 700m strike and up to 100m apparent widths, with assays pending to confirm whether it is lithium bearing.
“The Krofo discovery which is within 3km from the Ewoyaa deposit footprint is encouraging and provides further prospectivity within the Cape Coast pegmatite field for additional discoveries.
“The Ghana field team has done a great job in advancing the resource drilling programme and the exploration pipeline through diligent, staged field work where results demonstrate further exploration upside within the Cape Coast lithium portfolio.”