TG Metals’ Lake Johnston lithium project is back in the groove on a sustained improvement in market
sentiment. Pic: Getty Images
- TG Metals to apply for mining and infrastructure leases over its Burmeister lithium deposit
- Move will allow for production of direct shipping ore to potential Asian customers
- Program of Works for revised resource drill program of 41 RC and diamond holes approved
Special Report: As lithium prices continue to impress, TG Metals is moving to ready its Lake Johnston project into development to capitalise on the rising tide.
It’s the latest in a host of moves across the sector to latch onto a period of high prices, with spodumene lifting from under US$600/t just one year ago to US$2700/t+, coming on the heels of MinRes’ decision Monday to restart the Bald Hill lithium mine near Kambalda.
It’s the sort of price which makes the development of a direct shipping ore operation sing, with TG Metals (ASX:TG6) applying for a mining licence over its Burmeister, which contains an exploration target of 15.6-20.1Mt at 0.97-1.19% Li2O.
It comes as a number of miners look to ramp up production to capitalise on the improved lithium demand outlook with PLS (ASX:PLS) recently announcing the restart of the Ngungaju plant near Port Hedland.
It is in this increasingly sunny backdrop that TG Metals is now moving to lodge mining and infrastructure lease applications over the Burmeister deposit within the Lake Johnston project in the Southern Goldfields to enable direct shipping ore operations.
Resource drilling will also restart with the receipt of a Program of Works approval.
“The vastly improved lithium market over the past few months has further strengthened the company’s confidence in progressing development activities at the Burmeister lithium deposit,” chief executive officer David Selfe said.
“Application for a Mining Lease encompassing Burmeister and planned infrastructure together with approvals for a resource drill-out will pave the pathway forward for development of this significant deposit.
“Our technology patent application remains on track and investigations into potential revenue generation from waste stream materials is underway.”
Lake Johnston project
The Lake Johnston project covers more than 50km of strike over the Lake Johnston Greenstone Belt, which has geological similarities to the prolific Norseman-Wiluna and Southern Cross greenstone belts.
It hosts defined lithium-caesium-tantalum pegmatites with previous work having defined the Burmeister deposit, a series of stacked shallow dipping spodumene bearing pegmatites.
This also led to the calculation of the conceptual exploration target before lithium market conditions led TG6 to focus on its gold prospects at the Van Uden project near Southern Cross.
In the meantime, it progressed Lake Johnston prudently with work streams advanced in readiness for the development of the Burmeister deposit.
Recovering market sentiment has resulted in enquiries from a number of Asian buyers looking for offtake.
This led TG6 to prepare for lodging a mining lease application over Burmeister with the option for early development through DSO, a move aided by the shallow oxidised cover that will require minimal waste pre-stripping until first ore is reached.
It’s a path to market already established in the last lithium boom, with Core Lithium and Bill Beament’s Develop Global among the other juniors looking to progress DSO shipments in the context of currently attractive prices.
TG6has also revised the planned resource drilling and has now received approval for a 41-hole program of both reverse circulation and diamond drilling totalling 4809m that is guided by the previously defined US$2500/t SC6 conceptual pit shell.
Drilling will be used to define resources and recover core samples for further semi-continuous metallurgical testwork using the hybrid dense media separation (DMS) and flotation flowsheet developed by the company.
The provisional patent application for this flotation enhancement technology is continuing to progress through to grant with IP Australia.
Investigations are also underway into the viability of recovering quartz and feldspar, which make up 42% and 53% of the waste stream respectively.
This article was developed in collaboration with TG Metals, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.
This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.
