Latin beefs up Brazilian lithium ground

Latin Resources has beefed up its Brazilian lithium landholdings, securing two new lithium tenements in the Bananal Valley which will form part of the company’s Salinas lithium project that now covers around 5,338 hectares.

The company says it has defined a suite of priority drill targets across its “lithium corridor” with previous sampling delivering rock chips grading 2.71 and 1.45 per cent lithium oxide from spodumene bearing pegmatites mapped over a 1.2 kilometre strike length.

Latin says it has submitted the necessary drill permits to test two priority target areas where previous high-grade results were found. The company anticipates drill testing these zones early next year.

The fertile Bananal Valley district forms a key piece of Latin’s larger Salinas lithium project in Brazil’s south west. The area is nestled in the esteemed Minas Gerais province that Sigma Lithium’s developing lithium operation calls home.

Sigma’s landholdings sit about 60 km south of Latin’s ground and boast a resource of about 52 million tonnes of ore with high-grade lithium. Sigma is currently humming towards production with a noteworthy average grade of 1.48 per cent lithium oxide.

Remarkably, previous sampling across Latin’s Brazilian lithium ground delivered healthier grades of about 2.71 per cent lithium oxide, outperforming those of Sigma.

Our geological team is extremely keen to commence drilling in early 2022, testing multiple high priority targets at Salinas.

In addition, the option agreement to acquire two tenements next door to Bananal Valley significantly increases the prospectivity of the Project, given the two new tenements contain outcropping high-grade lithium spodumene bearing pegmatites.

The company is now bedded down in Brazil after finalising 14 drill sites to test its high-grade outcropping pegmatites that were unveiled in previous exploration campaigns.

Latin’s proposed drilling program will be its first campaign to test its lithium ground across a highly anomalous and outcropping mineralised trend in the largely unexplored region that at present holds 100 per cent of Brazil’s official lithium reserves.

According to the company, given the volatility of lithium, the presence of a high-grade remnant anomalism in the weathered outcrop is “extremely encouraging” and warrants a targeted drilling campaign.

The market for lithium has been bubbling away in recent times, with the mineral considered by many to be a key ingredient in the energy transition. Latin’s timing is looking exemplary too, with the electric vehicle market growing and showing little signs of slowing down. Tesla only a few weeks ago posted a Q3 output of over 240,000 vehicles globally, up almost 40,000 units over the previous quarter despite ongoing supply chain issues.

Latin looks set to show up to the white hot lithium party with a decent frock of its own and with rock chip grades going 2.7 per cent, it looks set to hit the dance floor in style.

Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@wanews.com.au