Excitement surrounding Tabba Tabba in Western Australia increased on Thursday, as Sayona Mining announced the discovery of high-potential pegmatites during its maiden drilling campaign.
Sayona’s lithium project, E45/2364, is located immediately south of the historic Tabba Tabba tantalum mine, where exploration by Wildcat Resources has identified encouraging lithium mineralisation.
Wildcat this week announced the “blind discovery” of a thick lithium pegmatite at its project, with intercepts of 41 m at 1% lithium oxide from 267 m, including 24 m at 1.3%.
Sayona’s drilling programme, consisting of 77-hole air core totalling 1 473 m, targeted two key areas. Results from the northern drill area revealed a zone of alteration, interpreted as the targeted southern extension of the Tabba Tabba mine stratigraphy. Meanwhile, drilling in the southern area, encompassing the Roadside and Turley prospects, intersected narrow pegmatite within broader zones of elevated tantalum and caesium geochemistry, indicative of a lithium/caesium/tantalum-type pegmatite system.
Following the completion of a gravity survey, Sayona plans to undertake reverse circulation (RC) drilling to test existing and new gravity-defined targets within fresh rock at depth. Earthworks have already been initiated in support of the upcoming drilling programme.
Director and interim CEO James Brown said the company was satisfied with the drilling results, highlighting the delineation of a prospective lithium corridor.
“These encouraging drill results at Tabba Tabba identified high potential pegmatites and provide a strong basis for us to proceed to a deeper RC drilling programme.
Given the recent discoveries in neighbouring tenements, we are excited to progress the exploration for lithium mineralisation in Western Australia,” he said.