- Recent mapping has increased the mineralised strike length at Cobra by an extra 200m to 3.2km
- Drilling has commenced at the highly prospective Cobra prospect, part of the Kirup lithium project
- Due diligence has begun at Kula’s newly-optioned 48km2 tenement
- Kirup is right next door to Greenbushes – the world’s largest lithium mine
Special Report: A maiden 1,000m drilling campaign — with room to grow depending on core sample results — has kicked off at Kula Gold’s Cobra prospect, part of its Kirup lithium project in WA.
Cobra is ~20km west of the world’s largest hard rock lithium mine, Greenbushes, where majors such as Albemarle, Tianqi and IGO (ASX:IGO), are pouring billions of dollars into increasing downstream processing output – meaning the mine needs to grow.
They’re snapping up tenements surrounding the mine. Albemarle forked out $30m cash for Lithium Power International’s (ASX:LPI) nearby tenements earlier this year, and IGO inking a $4m earn-in agreement with Venus Metals (ASX:VMC) for its ground.
Hence the reason Kula Gold’s (ASX:KGD) share price is going hell for leather lately, tipping over the 4c mark from 1c just a month earlier.
The Kirup project, surrounding Greenbushes – the world’s biggest lithium mine. Pic supplied (KGD).
So what’s the latest?
KGD has increased the strike length of the Cobra prospect pegmatite by 200m up to 3.2km following a mapping update. Now, it’s getting the drillbit out to prove up its lithium content, with early signs pointing to Li2O grades of up to 240 parts per million (ppm).
1,000m of RC drilling is now underway, targeting mineralogy that’s predominantly quartz, feldspar, tourmaline, muscovite and garnet.
At the nearby Falcon prospect, planning is progressing towards “drill ready” status, where mapping has interpreted a 2km x 300m mineralised zone.
The Mustang prospect has been drilled while the Thunderbird target has been sampled. KGD says it will return to drilling both prospects once it has properly delineated Cobra.
The Cobra and Falcon prospects at Kirup. Pic supplied: (KGD).
KGD MD Ric Dawson says the team is excited to have commenced RC drilling at the Cobra lithium prospect.
“The RC rig and booster will initially drill 150m downhole, but with capacity to drill to 250m if required,” Dawson says.
“Three lines of drilling spaced across the 3km strike length of the mapped pegmatite is the initial test.”
“Recent mapping has delineated that the mapped pegmatite extends further southwest and rock chips are being submitted for analysis.”
