ASX-listed Stelar Metals has intersected high-grade mineralisation in the initial reconnaissance drilling programme undertaken at the Trident lithium project, about 50 km from Broken Hill, in New South Wales.

Trident was one of Australia’s first lithium mining provinces, comprising pegmatites that have historically been mined for lithium and tin. The large scale of the lithium-rich pegmatite system at Trident, which is prospective for hard-rock lithium mineralisation, extends over a 20 km strike length of the Euriowie tin pegmatite field.

The inaugural drill programme was designed to assess the orientation and morphology of the Trident LCT-pegmatites. The best drill intercept from the programme was 8 m at 1.16% lithium oxide (Li₂O) from 8 m, including 4 m at 1.85% Li₂O in TRD001 at Trident.

The first drilling programme in this new lithium province in New South Wales comprised 29 holes for 2 630 m drilled at 18 drill sites.

In addition to the high-grade lithium discovery at Trident, drilling intersected a range of broad intercepts of anomalous lithium values of 0.1% to 0.3% Li₂O within the pegmatites.

Thick variably mineralised pegmatite intersections, including 32 m at 0.13% Li₂O in TRD010 and 34 m at 0.20% Li₂O in TRD012 allude to the mineralised potential of this open northern extension at Trident.

“Our initial drilling has confirmed Stelar’s view that the large-scale pegmatite system at Trident has the potential to host high-grade lithium mineralisation,” said CEO Colin Skidmore.

“As expected, the first exploration results from this new lithium terrain in New South Wales have also returned broad lithium intersections with highly anomalous lithium results, providing valuable information to plan our next exploration and drill programmes.

“As the lithium prices and markets have substantially weakened in the short term, our 2024 field exploration campaigns in New South Wales have recommenced to follow up a range of new and additional lithium-rich pegmatites and drill targets for drilling later in 2024 as markets recover,” said Skidmore.