Cheers mate, you sound knowledgeable on the subject .... A question about this statement:
For me there are a couple of red flags in the June 23 announcement about Zola:
"1. Mention of muscovite. Pegmatite bodies carrying abundant muscovite are typically poorly mineralised. Li mineralisation in musovite-rich pegmatites is more likely to be in the form of a mica (e.g. lepidolite...."
Haddingtons and Greenbushes reported muscovite all through their Bynoe pegmatite exploration, yet both CXO and LRT are both finding spodumene littered through the same pegmatites from surface assays and as they drill deeper. LTR also say of their Kathleen Valley Project that it
"contains a series of quartz-feldspar muscovite-spodumene pegmatites hosted in mafic rocks related to the Kathleen Valley **bro"
Also
Neometas reported this from the Mt Marion Lithium deposit:
"The lithium occurs as 10 cm to 30 cm long grey-white spodumene crystals within medium grained pegmatites comprising
primarily of quartz, feldspar,
spodumene and
muscovite."
http://www.neometals.com.au/reports/666-01755098.pdf
Kidman reports muscovite through their newly found spodumene deposit, although not as a main mineral.
At
Pilgangoora, Pilbara report this: At Pilgangoora .... the pegmatites are comprised of albite, quartz, spodumene, muscovite, and k-feldspar."
https://goo.gl/WQVZfB
Altura also reports muscovite along with their spodumene in their Pilgangoora deposit
Greenbushes, a region that CXO likens Bynoe to, report muscovite zones coincedental with their spodumene zones:
"The primary ore minerals are found in specific mineral assemblages displaying complex mineralogical zoning. The 'Lithium or Spodumene Zone' is enriched in the lithium-bearing silicate mineral spodumene. High-grade tantalum and cassiterite mineralisation is generally concentrated in the 'Sodium or Albite Zone' which is characterized by albite, tourmaline and muscovite."
I could go on, referring to multiple Canadian deposits of spodumene coincidental with muscovite:
"The
spodumene-bearing dykes present a similar mineralogy to that of their Quebec Lithium counterparts: quartz, feldspar,
spodumene, biotite-muscovite, with accessory pink-yellow garnet, colombo-tantalite and molybdenite.""
One resource actually goes as far as saying:
"Spodumene occurs almost exclusively in lithium rich granite pegmatites. It is a relatively rare mineral, occurring in association with quartz, microcline, albite, muscovite, lepidolite, tourmaline and beryl."
http://www.desertusa.com/desert-minerals/spodumene.html
So while I take you comment to perhaps mean that muscovite doesnt
host spodumene, the presence of muscovite through the Bynoe region, or at Zola really means nothing at this stage, especially being as as spodumene has never been explored for by previous explorers!
(20min delay)