Aim-listed Katoro Gold will investigate the potential of lithium and rare earth element mineralisation that has been identified at its 75%-owned Haneti nickel project, in Tanzania.
The company, which has focused on the exploration of nickel sulphides at the project, on Tuesday reported that its exploration team had identified several pegmatite outcrops within two abandoned artisanal pits at Haneti.
"The pegmatites appear to intrude along the sheared contact between granite gneisses and serpentinised ultramafic rocks and consist of coarse quartz, lepidolite and red and black tourmaline. Lepidolite contains significant lithium and its presence may be indicative of the presence of lithium minerals such as spodumene and petalite. These pegmatites can also prove prospective for rare earth elements, as well as other exotic minerals such as tantalite-columbite," Katoro explained.
Katoro's Tanzanian subsidiary Eagle Exploration has applied for five additional exploration licences in the area covering the zones of interest.
A further work programme, which may include a regional desktop study; detailed field mapping and geochemical analysis, principally to identify lithium-bearing minerals including spodumene and petalite; and an assessment of the extent of any mineralisation identified, is being developed.
"We have moved to rapidly secure licence ground to cover the areas of interest and may extend this licence coverage, should additional zones of interest be identified.
"These are exciting times for Katoro as we move into the initial fully funded drilling phase for nickel sulphides and now undertake work to investigate lithium prospectivity,” Katoro chairperson Louis Coetzee commented.