Pathfinder elements for lithium and tantalum have been detected by Midas Minerals (ASX:MM1) while out in the field at its WA goldfields-based Lake Seabrook project, roughly 33km from trucking landmark and mining town favourite Southern Cross.
Midas has multiple tenements equaling just short of 700km2 in a 200km of Southern Cross, with lithium and gold being the name of the game(s). Lake Seabrook is 94km2 across two tenements.
The big thing to note: pegmatite mineralisation dominates the area.
Geochemical surveys led Midas’s exploration team to sniff out the early-stage evidence that Seabrook may just hold commercial quantities of lithium.
Midas will now move ahead with more geochem tests, as well as field mapping, to inform the direction 2023 Lake Seabrook drilling will take, with boots back on the ground in Q1 of next year.
In 2009, the area was also proved to be positive for uranium mineralisation by a now de-listed explorer.
In certain environments, lithium and uranium can occur together, and is quite well understood but not exceedingly common. This is the case for at least one other ASX-listed project—Aurora Energy Metals’ (ASX:1AE) acreage in Colorado.
“We plan to complete further mapping in early 2023 to understand the mineralogy of the pegmatites, distribution of greenstone remnants and variability of the granite,” Midas MD Mark Calderwood said, talking rock and stone.
“Lake Seabrook’s clusters of anomalous LCT path-finder elements in geochemistry are encouraging and require further work to refine and prioritise targets.”
As of last month, Midas had 1,030 assay samples due back to it from the latest drilling at the (relatively) nearby WA Newington lithium project.
The company also continues to develop its WA Weebo project, searching for gold, as well as the Barracuda nickel-copper-PGE play.
Oh: Midas is also pretty sure it’s got platinum deposits at the Challa project, too.
Get the latest news and insights direct to your inbox