Extensive gold-lithium discovery confirmed by Midas Minerals

ASX-listed junior explorer Midas Minerals (ASX:MM1) confirmed its discovery of an extensive gold-lithium discovery at its WA-based Newington project on Tuesday. 

Midas first hit lithium at Newington, formerly a pure play gold operation, in November last year. 

This was foreshadowed by news from September which saw Midas report its successful drilling of lithium spodumene pegmatite targets back in September. Drilling commenced in August. 

“Significant work completed at Newington by the Company in the second half of 2022 has been successful in delineating areas most prospective for spodumene bearing LCT pegmatites,” Midas chief Mark Calderwood said. 

Currently, the company is waiting for assay results to come back from over 50 different lithium pegmatite samples. 

Multiple targets to drill over 20km 

The company identified a series of dual lithium-gold target areas for future exploration across its Newington project earlier this month. 

Those target areas range over a 20km long stretch of land and do not reflect one long continuous mineral system of that same length.

“The next stage of exploration is to undertake further mapping and drill hole planning within the high priority target areas with a combined strike of 20km,” Calderwood added.

The target areas prospective for both precious and battery metals were identified in surface rockchip sampling, as well as the results of soil geochemistry tests. 

High-grade gold in rock chips 

Non-lithium rock chip samples returned high-grade gold. 

Investor information provider Undervalued Equity classifies high grade gold as that in concentrations over five grams of gold per tonne of ore (5g/t), and many Australian projects boasting 4g/t grades are also considered high grade. 

In fieldwork that collected rock-chip samples, Midas posts grades of up to 7.7g/t gold in chips. 

Worth considering is that rockchip gold mineralisation is often more pronounced than that found further underground in successful instances.

Disclaimer: Market Index helps small-cap ASX listed companies connect with Australian investors through clear and concise articles on key developments. Midas was a client at the time of publishing. All coverage contains factual information only and should not be interpreted as an opinion or financial advice.