Latin Resources Limited (ASX: LRS), a leading player in the lithium mining industry, is excited to announce a significant milestone in the development of its Salinas Lithium Project located in Brazil. The company has made a groundbreaking discovery of a third spodumene occurrence, referred to as "Planalto," at the Colina Deposit within the Salinas Project.
The latest discovery, made in hole SADD223, has yielded an impressive ~45 meters of cumulative spodumene with abundant coarse-grained spodumene observed. This discovery, situated approximately 1.8 kilometers southwest of the Colina Mineral Resource Estimate 1 (MRE1), underscores the immense potential of the Salinas Project to host a world-class, global-tier-one lithium mineral resource.
Visual examination of the results from the "Planalto" discovery indicates that it shares similar mineralization characteristics with the high-grade Colina Deposit. This revelation highlights not only the significance of the Salinas Project but also its scale, suggesting that further discoveries are highly probable within the project's expansive boundaries.
SADD223 is a part of the company's comprehensive regional scout drilling program, which is a pivotal component of the broader 65,000-meter drilling program. Latin Resources Limited is committed to continuing its aggressive drilling campaign in 2024, deploying at least ten drill rigs, following a successful capital raise of $35 million in October 2023.
The upcoming drilling program in early 2024 will focus on several critical objectives, including delineating the new spodumene discovery at "Planalto," enabling a maiden Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) at Fog's Block, expanding the existing Colina Deposit MRE, and testing additional regional targets.
While we eagerly anticipate the assay results from the completed SADD223 hole, expected within the next 4-6 weeks, Latin Resources Limited remains on target for the 2023 release of the upgraded Colina Deposit MRE (current MRE1: 45.2 million tonnes at 1.32% Li2O). This release will follow the completion and database cutoff from the latest resource expansion drilling program.
Latin Resources Limited is proud of the progress made at the Salinas Lithium Project and is committed to delivering value to its shareholders through the continued exploration and development of this world-class asset.
Latin Resources’ Vice President of Operations - Americas, Tony Greenaway, commented: “Our latest spodumene discovery at Planalto is a major step forward in the delineation of a world class global mineral resource at our Salinas Project. With a resource upgrade expected for our flagship Colina Deposit due out in a matter of weeks and our ongoing drilling at Fog’s block continuing to show strong spodumene mineralisation; this latest discovery almost two kilometres to the southwest of Colina proves that we are only just starting to uncover the Project’s full potential. We will continue to aggressively drill across multiple centres throughout 2024 with the aim of declaring maiden resource estimates for Fog’s Block and now our new Planalto prospect.
“We have always maintained a goal of reaching a global combined resource of around 80-100Mt at Salinas. Now with three major spodumene discoveries within easy trucking distance of the proposed centralised process facility, the Salinas Project is well positioned to achieve our ambitions.”
Contact details:
Jane Morgan