Aurora Energy Metals Limited (ASX:1AE) has identified lithium and uranium zones in the final set of chemical assay results from the Reverse Circulation (RC) and Diamond Drill (DD) programme completed in December last year at the company’s Aurora Energy Metals Project in south-east Oregon/north-east Nevada.
The programme targeted uranium to the north-west of the existing Aurora Uranium Deposit and lithium, interpreted to be hosted in thicker lakebed sediments overlying and widely beyond the Aurora Uranium Deposit, an area of approximately 18 sq. km.
Sixteen vertical and one angled hole were drilled during the program, made up of 12 RC and 5 DD holes. Importantly, holes were drilled into the lakebed sediments over one km away from the Aurora Uranium deposit including the first hole to be drilled by the company to the north-east of the fault line, in the so- called graben block.
Drilling has now confirmed lithium mineralisation over an area of more than 1500m x 2000m, with mineralisation open in all directions. The presence of thicker lithium clay mineralisation and uranium mineralisation on the eastern side of the horst graben fault is a significant positive result for the project.
Now that the final chemical assays have been received, we can reflect on this first Aurora drill programme since listing with a lot of satisfaction,” Managing Director, Greg Cochran, said.
“We have not only validated the well-defined Aurora uranium deposit model, we have also enhanced our understanding of the potential for an extension of that model. Importantly, the first hole in the graben area returned some tantalising assays, showing that uranium mineralisation may extend deeper than what was previously thought.
“That same hole also intersected lithium in the graben, at grades similar to the giant lithium deposits elsewhere in the McDermitt Caldera, providing further evidence that we are on the right track as we head into the thicker sediments on that north-eastern side the fault during the next phase of drilling.”
The grade of the lithium results in this drill programme compare favourably with other large lithium clay sediment deposits in the McDermitt Caldera, including Jindalee Resources’ McDermitt deposit1 to the west and Lithium America’s Thacker Pass deposit to the south.
Hole 22AUDD005 targeted the horst-graben structure interpreted to be the conduit for the uranium-bearing mineralised fluids. This hole finished in high-grade uranium mineralisation (2.4m at 540 ppm U3O8 from 203.6m) but had to be terminated due to drilling issues.
This result and the uranium intersections in hole 22AUDRC005DT are significant in that they demonstrate that uranium mineralisation continues to the east of the horst graben fault, opening up the potential to significantly increase the existing mineral resources.
This zone, along the entire length of the Aurora Deposit, will be targeted in future drilling to test for immediate extensions to the currently defined uranium Mineral Resource.
