You are basically implying areas with high rainfall you have chemical weathering through the entire deposit. Well it rains a lot around the area of AVZ in DRC and where Greenbushes in SW WA for example is located. There will be chemical and natural weathering to a certain depth - possibly up to 30 metres, maybe a little more - but if have an extensive pegmatite system I doubt very much the whole system will be weathered to total depth.
For reference have a look at PNG - Bougnaville for one - and the area around Freeports mine in West Papua (lots of jungle there) (for avoidance of doubt this is just an example and could pull out a few more of mining operations in jungles etc) .
Anyway, ultimately the drill bit will decide and infact the issue with the post you are looking at from
@ans25 is that the trenching showed albite and albite is something you see with lithium deposits. Drill through it and see what is there - refer Post #:
30514978 and Post #:
30139301 and Post #:
26024193
Won't get into further debate - we can return to this when they finally drill. All IMO
