Latin Resources confirms Salina project’s lithium potential with fieldwork and mapping campaign

Latin Resources Ltd (ASX:LRS) is a step closer to unlocking the resource potential of its Salinas Lithium Project in Brazil following a fieldwork and mapping campaign. The exploration company, which is working across a suite of mineral resource projects in Australia and Latin America, identified outcropping pegmatites containing spodumene over 4 square kilometres within the project’s Bananal Valley region, confirming its high prospectivity for lithium. Ultimately, 82 samples were taken during Latin’s initial mapping exercise — all of which have since been taken to the lab for detailed analysis, with results pending. The ASX-lister has already mapped and sampled high priority regions at Salinas in the hopes of pinpointing drill targets, while the geology and sampling teams are now on-site to focus on the next priority areas. “Back on the ground” Commenting on the development, Latin Resources executive director Chris Gale said: “It has been a difficult working environment with Brazil having one of the highest rates of COVID cases in the world. “However, we are now back on the ground and the company has developed a detailed work program on our very exciting Brazilian lithium projects. “The recent fieldwork has shown us there is significant upside on our lithium projects with assay results only a few weeks away. “The development of the Sigma lithium mine with construction well underway gives Latin enormous confidence to emulate this same achievement over the next few years. “The significant time and investment that Latin has invested in our lithium projects, along with the COVID situation in Brazil becoming more manageable, now allows the company’s lithium strategy to reboot to develop our valuable lithium projects in a fantastic mining province”. Fieldwork at Salinas Originally, Latin hoped to kick off fieldwork at Salina in March 2021, but a major COVID outbreak in the region hampered travel plans and brought on widespread restrictions. However, owing to recent improvements in the local COVD situation, the ASX-lister’s fieldwork team was recently able to go to site, with the latest sampling and mapping suggesting there’s strong potential for hard-rock lithium at Salinas. Interestingly, the exploration crew’s activity located numerous lithium pegmatites and discovered a new occurrence that showed consistent spodumene mineralisation. In addition, 38 stream sediment and 44 outcrop rock-chip samples were collected and are now being analysed by a laboratory, with results anticipated next month. Because there was a delay in mobilising to site, Latin took the time to review historical fieldwork data, allowing the ASX-lister to identify a suite of high-priority drill targets to explore in the future. This means preliminary drill sites have already been selected and will be finalised for statutory approval documentation once all assay results from the sampling program come back. Next on the agenda Latin’s field teams are currently back on the ground and have started the next phase of mapping and sampling to the west of the initial focus area. Historical data from this region indicates a favourable geological setting, while the planned fieldwork will focus on verifying and sampling the historical pegmatite occurrences. In addition, Latin hopes to complete regional stream sediment sampling, aimed at identifying new pegmatite occurrences. Overall, the work program will point the ASX-lister in the direction of potential drill sites for the next stage of exploration. As it prepares for this, Latin maintains it will deploy “significant resources” to fast-track the lithium pegmatite definition and drilling over the next six months. Exploring for Lithium in Brazil’s warehouse region Latin’s Salinas project, located in eastern Brazil, forms part of the highly prospective Jequitinhonha Valley district, home to all of the country’s official lithium reserves. The district sits within the broader Minas Gerais region, which is commonly known as Brazil’s warehouse of mineral resources including iron ore, manganese, bauxite, gold and lithium-bearing pegmatites. The regional capital of Belo Horizonte is a significant mining centre containing major local and international exploration and mining service provider groups, including lithium producer Companhia Brasileira de Lítio and Sigma Lithium Corp. (TSX-V:SGMA, OTCQB:SGMLF) Sigma is the most active lithium explorer in the region, with a world-class lithium resource base that currently stands at 52 million tonnes at 1.48% lithium oxide. The Canadian resources company only kicked off exploration and resource drilling on their projects in 2018, completed its feasibility study in 2020 and is now in construction phase, targeting first lithium spodumene production in 2022. Based on the feasibility study report, Sigma’s commercial production plant will contemplate a capacity of 220,000 tonnes annually of battery-grade “green” lithium concentrate It means the company will be amongst the lowest-cost producers of lithium concentrate globally. As it works in close proximity to its lithium-focused neighbours, Latin is particularly excited by future opportunities for battery-grade lithium hydroxide production.