Voltaic Strategic Resources Limited (ASX:VSR) has identified a 22 km prospective lithium-caesium-tantalum (LCT) within the Ti Tree project at Gascoyne Critical Metals Project, located in the mid-northwest of Western Australia.
Ground exploration commenced in September, focusing on REEs and lithium. The 22 km cumulative strike length prospective LCT corridor has been identified within the Ti Tree project, and work is underway prioritising shallow drilling and geochemical vectoring programs for target definition within granted tenure.
Data compilation has also revealed several regional lithium occurrences proximal to the project and extensive pegmatite fractionation within the project, which is an encouraging hallmark of the nearby Yinnietharra/Malinda lithium discovery, six km NW of the company’s ‘Ti Tree South’ tenements.
Several pegmatites, ironstone/calcsilicate outcrops have been discovered in the field, which are prospective for lithium and REEs respectively, and extensive (148) rockchip samples have been collected across priority target zones at both Ti Tree and Paddys Well projects, analysis of which is currently underway. Additionally, permitting and logistics are progressing for shallow drilling programme.
Ti Tree Project (EL 09/2503, ELA 09/2522, ELA 09/2470)
Ti Tree resides within an interpreted prospective corridor of LCT-bearing pegmatites, hereafter called the ‘Volta’ corridor, which contains the Yinnietharra/Malinda lithium discovery and is underlain by the Thirty-Three Supersuite (TTS) – a belt of plutons comprised primarily of granitoids.
Fertile LCT pegmatites in the region have been observed to lie within ~0‒5 km of source granite intrusions and appear controlled by both faults within the host metasediments, and fractionation. Voltaic would like to acknowledge Segue Resources’ pioneering work into demonstrating the fertility of the TTS for lithium‐bearing minerals, and how the fractionation within it is comparable to world‐class lithium deposits such as Pilgangoora, Wodgina and Tanco.
The Volta corridor is interpreted to extend at least 80 km in a NW-SE orientation, underlaying both the Yinnietharra Lithium discovery and Voltaic’s tenure at Ti Tree North (ELA 09/2522) and Ti Tree South (EL 09/2503, ELA 09/2470).
Data compilation to date has identified a cumulative strike length of at least 22 km of this prospective area within Ti Tree (6km ‘Volta1’ target within Ti Tree South; 16km ‘Volta2’ target within Ti Tree North),
Furthermore, the Company is encouraged by the number of pegmatite occurrences identified within the project, several of which are within 2 km of the Volta corridor. Thus far, a prospective area of 3 x 4 km has been delineated at Ti Tree South and it is anticipated that this will grow with further mapping and remote sensing.
Moreover, the frequency of fractionated / altered felsic rocks observed is encouraging, with several coarse-grained pegmatites, tourmaline, and beryl widespread throughout the tenure. Rockchip samples (80) will undergo multi-element analysis and appraisal of fractionation to assist with LCT vectoring.
Spectral Alteration Survey
A spectral alteration survey utilising LANDSAT and ASTER satellite data was undertaken across the project tenure in March 2022 to enable rapid mapping of surface mineralogy, targeting LCT pegmatites from surrounding fertile granitoids. It generated 21 priority targets and these are being systematically investigated, with the highest ranked “P1” targets prioritised in the recent field reconnaissance program. Encouragingly, several targets are observed to overlay portions of the prospective ‘Volta’ corridor, and rockchips have been collected from a portion of these to assist lithium vectoring geochemistry.
Drill Planning at Ti Tree
Voltaic’s immediate focus at Ti Tree is to delineate several key prospective LCT targets utilising a combination of soil and rockchip sampling for geochemical vectoring. To date, 80 rockchips have been collected from the granted project tenure and a preliminary programme of shallow drilling will be carried out once approvals have been received, the aim of which is to screen key target areas of interest for LCT geochemical vectoring haloes.
Subsequent exploration will involve soil sampling and geophysical surveying. PoW applications are in progress covering broad drill target areas and it is anticipated that either auger vacuum (AV) or air core (AC) drills will be used to conduct drilling in areas of shallow cover.