Ann: Mt Ida - A New Lithium Province, page-83

The one core photo they show is perhaps ~5% volume lepidolite (purple stuff), but with a LOT of spodumene (long creamy white stuff), maybe ~40% - remainder being quartz etc (containing no lithium). If that piece is grading ~1.5% Li2O (like reported intercepts in assayed holes), the vast majority of the lithium content will be in the spodumene - the small amount of lepidolite could not account for that much Li2O. But whether that's representative of all of that particular hole, or any of the other intercepts reported, is not clear - investors are to some extent punting on the answer to that. But spodumene is there, and that is the most important first-pass thing to look for in these systems. If there's some, there should be more. The widths reported to date are also easily mineable, if there's enough of it.

Steep dip is no problem to mine, many mines of all commodities have this geometry. Flat dips can be as hard, or harder. Bald Hill lithium mine was ~flat, but buried - so they had to mine a whole heap of waste off the top just to get to it. Strip ratio of waste : ore was in the order of 10:1 or higher, from memory.