Save
Print[Ferro-Alloys.com] TNG Acquires Strategic Lithium Exploration Tenure Near Its Flagship Mount Peake Project
|
Key Points • TNG has acquired a large tenement area, referred to as the “Sandover Lithium Project”, located 50km south-east of its flagship Mount Peake Vanadium-Titanium-Iron Project in the Northern Territory. • The Sandover Lithium Project, which forms part of the Northern Arunta Pegmatite Province, is considered highly prospective for lithium-bearing pegmatites. • The Sandover Lithium Project represents a potentially strategic growth opportunity that would complement the Company’s long-term critical minerals growth strategy. • Several companies are currently exploring the northern Arunta Pegmatite Province for lithium-bearing pegmatite’s, including Askari Metals (ASX:AS2), Eastern Metals (ASX:EMS) and Core Lithium (ASX:CXO). • The acquisition is consistent with TNG’s growth strategy in battery-related and future-facing strategic metals, complementing the planned development of the Mount Peake Project. Australian resource company TNG Limited (ASX: TNG) (“TNG” or the “Company”) is pleased to advise it has further strengthened its growth pipeline in battery-related and future-facing strategic minerals after securing an extensive new lithium exploration package, the Sandover Lithium Project, located near its 100%-owned Mount Peake Vanadium-Titanium-Iron Project (“Mount Peake Project”) in the Northern Territory. The Company has secured two large exploration tenement packages, collectively known as the “Sandover Licences” (Figure 1), which cover areas considered highly prospective for lithium in pegmatites, just 50km south-east of the Mount Peake Project. The Sandover licences cover a total area of 8,151km2 and comprise two contiguous blocks. The western block is comprised of Exploration Licence Applications (“ELA”) 33090 and 33094 through 33100, with the eastern block comprising ELAs 33102 through 33106 (Table 1). The Sandover Lithium Project has been acquired from private Northern Territory-based prospectors on acquisition terms of $25,000 per granted licence, with the consideration paid on transfer. TNG has been completing due diligence on the licences since February 2022. The Sandover Lithium Project ground is considered to have high potential to host lithium-bearing pegmatites, as seen elsewhere in the Northern Arunta Pegmatite Province. |
Management Comment:
TNG Managing Director & CEO, Paul Burton, said: “We are very pleased to have secured this highly prospective area for shareholders, which represents an exciting and logical addition to our flagship Mount Peake deposit. The area represents, in all likelihood, one of the last areas that is prospective for lithium in the Northern Territory.“While we remain fully focused on developing the Mount Peake Vanadium-Titanium-Iron Project, we want to continue to build up our growth portfolio in battery-related and future strategic metals. The global energy transformation and the move to Electric Vehicles will see a structural increase in the consumption of metals such as lithium and vanadium. We want to be positioned to take advantage of this surge in demand for both elements.”
The Anningie and Barrow Creek pegmatite fields (Figure 2), located just to the north of the western block of Sandover licences, were first recognised in the mid-1930’s. Small-scale cassiterite and tantalite concentrate production mostly from alluvial/colluvial material, with minor pegmatite mine production, continued through into the 1970’s (NTGS Report #16, K Frater 2005).
While some tin and tantalum exploration was conducted in the period from 1980 to 2000, it was not until the “lithium boom” year of 2016 that any effort had been put in to identifying lithium-bearing pegmatites.
Several companies are currently exploring the northern Arunta Pegmatite Province for lithium-bearing pegmatites, including Askari Metals (ASX:AS2), Eastern Metals (ASX:EMS) and Core Lithium (ASX:CXO).
TNG intends to explore for lithium-bearing pegmatites using traditional rock chip and soil sampling methods in areas with outcrop or residual soils. This will be augmented with state-of-the-art remote sensing exploration techniques in order to rapidly locate pegmatite’s at surface and beneath thin sand cover.
TNG has engaged the services of Dr Mike Hussey, a world expert on spectral data interpretation and modelling, to commence with a spectral and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) imagery interpretation utilising “finger-printing” of known exposed lithium bearing pegmatites. Initial results are highly encouraging subject to field checking. As a result, TNG has extended its area of interest south and east of the predicted zone of pegmatites (Figure 2).
The land area is also considered highly prospective for both sediment-hosted copper and Iron Oxide Copper Gold (“IOCG”) deposits, following recent work by the Northern Territory Geological Survey (“NTGS”). The northern portions of this tenure area cover the margins of Georgina Basin, which is considered prospective for sediment-hosted copper, of the Zambian Copper Belt type. The basal Neoproterozoic Georgina sediments overly a wide area of Aileron province Paleoproterozoic basement in the Sandover area. This basement type with deep crustal features are a target for metallogenic provinces as seen in the Gawler Craton, South Australia.
- [Editor:tianyawei]
Daily News
Research
Magazine
Company Database
Customized Database
Conferences
Advertisement
Trade
Tell Us What You Think