Mar 2018
Buchanan’s Creek JORC Modelling & Maiden Resource
In February – March 2018, Mining Associates Pty Ltd a Brisbane mining advisory company was engaged to review SMA’s field and drilling data and produce a detailed JORC Report of several mineralised pegmatites at Buchanans Creek, Georgetown. Executive Summary is quoted below:
“This report presents a summary of the work conducted by Strategic Metals Australia Pty Ltd (SMA) from 2014 to 2018 on its tenements in Georgetown area of Queensland covering the Buchanan’s Creek Lithium Caesium Tantalum (LCT) Pegmatite Field, and the resulting inferred mineral resource.
Exploration work includes regional stream sediment sampling and multi-element analysis, geological mapping of lithology/strata and pegmatites, petrology and geochemistry of the pegmatites and associated host leucogranites, drilling and costeaning results, metallurgical studies on bulk ore samples and resource estimation.
The purpose of the report is to assess the status, grade and tonnage of the resource presently outlined by SMA’s exploration. It is not the intent of the report to attempt to analyse the commercial viability of the mineralisation as exploration is at an early stage evaluation.
The format and content of this report are in accordance with the requirements of the Australian Joint Ore Reserves Committee (JORC 2012).
This report was prepared by Mr Ian Taylor of Mining Associates (MA), who is a competent person with an Honours degree in Geology, with the assistance of SMA representative Bradley Crighton, who is a competent person with a degree in Geology.
The Mineral Resources for Buchanan’s Creek for pegmatites Acacia 1 & 2 and Coolibah 1 have been classified as an Inferred Mineral Resource based on a spatial, areal and zone basis and are listed in Table 1.
The resource has been reported as inferred and the selected cut off is 0.9% Li2O providing 75,810 t grading 1.32% Li2O, for 1,001,600 kg of Li2O. Associated with this tonnage is 0.062% tin oxide (SnO2) and 0.025% tantalum oxide (Ta2O5), 0.13% caesium oxide (Cs2O), 40 ppm gallium (Ga), 0.5% rubidium (Rb2O) and 0.52% phosphorus oxide (P2O5).
Tonnages are rounded to the nearest hundred tonnes, lithium grades (%) are rounded to two decimal places and accessory products are rounded to the nearest 10 ppm or two decimal places if reported as a percentage. Rounding as required by reporting guidelines reflect the accuracy of the estimates and may result in apparent summation differences between tonnes grade and contained metal.
All resources have been stated above a 0.9% Li2O cut-off and occur within 50m of the surface. The Buchanan’s Creek Mineral Resource is an inferred resource that is not a mineral reserve. It is reasonable to expect the majority of the inferred mineral resource could be upgraded to indicated mineral resource. There is no certainty that all or any part of the mineral resource will be converted into mineral reserve” (Mining Associates Pty Ltd March 2018).
Figure 1: Drill Hole Location Plan and Pegmatite Model (Mining Associates)
Importantly the report has set out the format and guidelines for SMA to continue adding to this resource in compliance with the Australian JORC code 2012 for reporting mineral reserves and resources. SMA plans to drill a series of larger pegmatites to increase these resources. Pegmatites to be targeted include the Blackbutt, Redgum and Lillypilly groups (see Figure 2). SMA also plans to investigate the use of modern ore sorting technology to ascertain whether the lithium mineralisation can be upgraded to Direct Shipping Ore. This process could be expected to both lower production costs significantly and increase the resource tonnage available for processing.
A Mining Lease (ML 100046) covering a large area (5.71 km2) of the Buchanan’s Pegmatite Field has been granted by the Queensland Department of Natural Resources and Mines (DNRM). The Mining Lease is exclusive of Native Title.
Figure 2: Identified Complex and Massive Pegmatites at Buchanan’s Creek
Bradley Crighton
Director of Exploration
Strategic Metals Australia