Thanks for that reference for spod. Might be intergrown with quartz, hard to tell. But no significant mica influence there so thats good.
Generally, if you're going for underground hard rock mining, something more vertical will allow Sub level Stoping, Sublevel Caving, cut and fill, or block caving if its real big, or something along those lines being cheaper mining methods. Shallower dips are still minable for sure, but the grades have to be high and the thing youre mining to be the right geometry to get over the economics.
I'm still learning the economics spaces of Li mining underground, very few do it or plan on doing it, so looking into this in future, but those that are doing it like Greenbushes, the pegs are steeper.
Kathleen Valley is planning on starting with Open Pit, then UG diluted cut off is 1.2% Li2O, so pegmatites themselves need to be higher grade than that to account for dilution too, but they're mining with both room-and-pillar (fair amount of ore loss in this, but yep thats Coal mining ) and long hole open stope methods. Also just something to think about, if you are room and pillar mining something, since you'll loose some of it to the pillars, it'll need to be volumatrically significant. What significant is, I dont know, depends on depth, continuity, starting UG or starting OP... many variables.
pegmatites a few m thick at depth with TG6.... not worth following up those ones IMO when exploration money is better spent elsewhere or on other companies. Not a single chance they'll stand up.
Keen to learn more.
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