Final Drilling Assays at Bougouni Lithium Project

RNS Number : 3114W

Kodal Minerals PLC

08 February 2017

 

The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulations (EU) No. 596/2014 ("MAR") 

Kodal Minerals Plc / Index: AIM / Epic: KOD / Sector: Mining

8 February 2017

Kodal Minerals plc

('Kodal' or 'the Company')

Final Drilling Assays Confirm High Grade Lithium Mineralisation at Bougouni Project

Kodal Minerals plc, the mineral exploration and development company focussed on West Africa, is pleased to announce the receipt of the final assay results for all drill holes from the first reverse circulation ("RC") drilling programme at the Bougouni Lithium Project ("Bougouni"), Southern Mali.

Highlights

·     Remaining drill holes at the Ngoualana prospect ("Ngoualana") continue to return wide, high-grade intersections and all holes drilled at the prospect have returned lithium mineralisation:

o 28m at 1.85% Li₂O from 72m in drill hole KLRC002

o 22m at 1.64% Li₂O from 48m in drill hole KLRC004

o 18m at 1.80% Li₂O from 17m in drill hole KLRC007

o 16m at 1.76% Li₂O from 11m in drill hole KLRC006

·     Results confirm previous high grade mineralisation of 21m at 1.7% Li₂O from 62m depth announced on 2 February 2017

·     Mineralisation remains open at depth with all drilling to date targeting near surface mineralisation

·     Follow-up drilling planned for Ngoualana to target the strike extensions, test depth continuity and define the high grade mineralised zones

Bernard Aylward, CEO of Kodal Minerals, said: "We are very pleased to report these final results confirming the high-grade lithium mineralisation at Ngoualana.  This prospect is continuing to exceed our expectations with the wide intersections of spodumene rich pegmatite remaining open along strike and at depth.  The drilling programme has also intersected a series of parallel and subsidiary pegmatite veins that are also returning high grade mineralisation. 

"Kodal's exploration programme is continuing on site with trench sampling targeting several of the new prospects identified by our rock chip and geological reconnaissance.  These targets will be included in the follow-up drilling programme that is planned to commence as soon as possible.

"Our exploration programme is focussed on advancing the Bougouni Lithium Project as rapidly as possible.  We have been collecting samples for preliminary metallurgical testing, and testing multiple targets to ensure we fully evaluate the project. The aim of our expanded exploration programme is to establish a maiden resource for the project as soon as possible and assess development opportunities."

Further Information

Lithium

The pegmatite veins intersected by drilling at Bougouni are spodumene rich (20-30% spodumene content) low mica pegmatite bodies with spodumene being the main lithium bearing mineral in most hard rock lithium deposits.  The high grade lithium mineralisation returned in the assays compares favourably with other hard rock spodumene mineralised pegmatite veins under development around the world where grades range from 1.1% Li₂O through to 1.4% Li₂O.  The intersections reported in this announcement have been estimated using a 1.0% Li₂O lower-cut, and have consistently high mineralisation throughout the pegmatite bodies.

An initial review of the development process for the Bougouni lithium pegmatite bodies was completed as part of the World Bank sponsored SYSMIN study completed by CSA Global in 2008.  This report indicated that a process of mine site crushing, screening and dense media separation techniques was able to produce a good quality spodumene concentrate, with grade over 6% Li₂O.  Chemical grade spodumene concentrate (typically containing 6% Li₂O) is sold for use in battery manufacturing and other industrial applications.  Recent lithium concentrate (grade 6%) prices are approximately US$600/t.

RC Programme Information

Samples were analysed by ALS Global ("ALS"), with sample receipt at ALS Bamako Mali, sample preparation at ALS Ouagoudougou, Burkina Faso, with final analysis completed at ALS Vancouver, Canada.  Sample analysis was completed with a four acid digest and final detection by ICP-AES method.

This is the final batch of 400 samples from the December 2016 drill campaign and includes drill holes from the Ngoualana prospect and the final two drill holes from the Kola prospect.  The maximum assay value returned is 2.37% Li₂O and is associated with a coarse grained, spodumene rich pegmatite unit.  A total of 150 samples (37.5% of samples received) returned assay values greater than 1% Li₂O, and all pegmatites intersected in the drilling were mineralised.  The higher percentage of strongly mineralised assays reflects the bulk of the samples were from the Ngoualana prospect with wider zones of pegmatite intersected.

RC Drilling Programme

This announcement reports the final results from the Ngoualana prospect.  A total of 8 drill holes for 712m were completed at Ngoualana with all drill holes returning mineralised intersections.

Geological review of the drilling programme indicates that the Ngoualana vein has been confirmed for over 250m strike length and remains open along strike and at depth.  Drilling intersected a wide main vein (up to 30m downhole width) with multiple parallel and subsidiary pegmatite veins.  Logging of the drill holes indicated coarse spodumene minerals within the pegmatite, confirming the surface outcrop.  The Ngoualana vein is hosted in a sequence of metasedimentary rocks.

A summary of the final drill intersections is tabled below:

Prospect	Hole Id	Northing		Easting	Hole Depth m	From M	To m	Thickness m	Li2O %
Ngoualana	KLRC002	664245		1255303	120	15.00	17.00	2	1.96
						72.00	100.00	28	1.85
Ngoualana	KLRC003	664196	1255333		114	69.00	72.00	3	1.67
						77.00	78.00	1	1.28
						83.00	95.00	12	1.83
Ngoualana	KLRC004	664285	1255382		72	20.00	22.00	2	1.99
						25.00	34.00	9	1.57
						45.00	67.00	22	1.64
Ngoualana	KLRC005	664134	1255433		72	43.00	47.00	4	1.35
						60.00	64.00	4	1.73
Ngoualana	KLRC006	664173	1255403		60	11.00	27.00	16	1.76
Ngoualana	KLRC007	664226	1255393		46	17.00	35.00	18	1.8
						40.00	41.00	1	1.54
Ngoualana	KLRC008	664223	1255315		96	14.00	15.00	1	1.05
						69.00	86.00	17	1.57
					includes	74	85	11	1.75

Notes:  All drill holes are reverse circulation drilling.  Drill holes have been sampled on 1 metre and 3 metre composite basis with samples collected via riffle splitter.  Samples analysed by ALS Global. Assay results are reported as Li% and converted to Li₂O% by a factor of 2.153.  Drill hole collars surveyed by hand-held GPS, coordinate system WGS84 - Zone 29N.  Sample intervals are downhole thickness. 

The final assay results for the drilling at the Kola prospect were also received with no additional high-grade lithium intersections to report.  The drilling continued to hit pegmatite bodies, and a review of the geological logging, assays and geological mapping is underway to determine the next steps for the Kola prospect.

Bougouni Project

Bougouni consists of two concessions, Kolassokoro and Madina, which cover a contiguous area of 500km².  Kodal has recently entered into Option to Purchase and Access agreements that grant Kodal exclusive rights to explore and develop any identified mineralisation within the project area.  Details of the agreements were announced in August and September 2016.

The project area is located approximately 180km south of Bamako, the capital of Mali, with excellent access to the project via sealed road from Bamako.  The project area is located close to grid power, has access to good water supply and for future development will be able to link to a road-rail-port network from Mali to the Cote d'Ivoire port at Abidjan.

The exploration results and activity reported in this announcement have been reviewed by Mr Bernard Aylward who is a Member of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. Mr Aylward has sufficient experience that is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity being undertaken to qualify as a Qualified Person as defined in the AIM Note for Mining and Oil & Gas Companies dated June 2009. Mr Aylward consents to the inclusion in this announcement of the matters based on his information in the form and context in which it appears.

**ENDS**

For further information, please visit www.kodalminerals.com or contact the following:

Kodal Minerals plc Bernard Aylward, CEO	Tel: [phone]
Allenby Capital Limited, Nominated Adviser Jeremy Porter/Nick Harriss	Tel: [phone]
SP Angel Corporate Finance LLP, Financial Adviser & Broker John Mackay/Laura Harrison	Tel: [phone]
St Brides Partners Ltd, Financial PR Susie Geliher/Lottie Brocklehurst/Megan Dennison	Tel: [phone]

 

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