My take aways from this update
1. Auger drilling shows Li is clearly much higher than background levels. So there is definite Li mineralisation. Cool. The Li levels are low and similar to Manono for weathered material (AVZ trenching below on the actual pegs)
Roche Dure TR001 T1
nil extremely weathered pegmatite
Roche Dure TR002 T2
6m-14m; 8m @ 0.54% Li2O weathered pegmatite
26m-48m; 22m @ 0.65% Li2O weathered pegmatite
56m-60m; 4m @ 0.81% Li2O weathered pegmatite
Roche Dure TR003 T3
0m-30m; 30m @ 0.76% Li2O weathered pegmatite
124m - 128m; 4m @ 1.01% Li2O relatively unweathered pegmatite
Roche Dure TR004 T4
136m - 140m; 4m @ 0.63% Li2O weathered pegmatite
Roche Dure TR005 T5
0m-197m; 197m @ 0.56% Li2O most of samples weathered pegmatite
includes 12m-40m; 38m @ 1.29% Li2O relatively unweathered pegmatite
and 60m-89m; 29m @ 1.54% Li2O relatively unweathered pegmatite
2. Many of the augur drill holes hit the pegmatite at shallow depths (<= 4m). So it looks like a lot of the laterite is indeed removed and the peg top is wide and flat-lying (again similar to Manono but not quite as extensively removed yet)
3. Multiple granite / gneiss hits in augering and the Kania RC drilling indicates a gneisss/granite intrudes near the peg etc. More or less confirms they are in a sweet spot.
4. Timeline looks positive - Kanuka RC drilling wraps up in 2 weeks, Kitotolo drilling begins in next 2 to 3 weeks. Siteworks and prep for Kitotolo drilling finished.
5. Kanuka mineralisation confirmed as an LCT pegmatite like Manono or Greenbushes. Perhaps an elevated chance of Tin/Tantalum in the fresh pegs as well? Makes sense if it is mined for Cassiterite.
The issues I think have people spooked
1. Lepidolite is present in the samples. If that continues into the pegmatite then this makes whole rock Li % analysis more problematic if widespread but remember they encountered this issue at first at Manono in places too but it was isolated. Lepidolite was also found in elevated levels in intial works for Pilgangoora/Wodgina and others too so it's not conclusive of anything yet. Hard to find a spod bearing peg without it TBH. PLS has a mountain of the shite I am pretty sure
2. No spodumene in the auger sample breakdown is the topic that has been pounced on by many here. At first glance this would scare folk who have not bothered to study Li mineralisation whatsoever. Firstly, Spodumene typically first becomes apparent in the wall of the peg and becomes more common toward the centre so it is understood that it is less common for it to be part of laterite cover if at all, you really need fresh, unweathered pegmatite access. These samples are just from the cover. This is highly weathered clay and in this scenario spod gets converted readily to a variety of other crystal specimens, especially Kaolinite. In wet environments like the DRC this process is expedited as more Li is leeeched into water flows etc. Science!
Read here for some basic geo chem on Spodumene to Kaolinite/Quartz/Albite etc if you are interested (pay particular attention to page 195 too where it talks about tin based spodumene and their composition of Quartz/ Albite/ Microcline)
https://books.google.com.au/books?id=qJJrYnpT2pYC&pg=PA194&lpg=PA194&dq=kaolinite spodumene&source=bl&ots=YC3KxHfxml&sig=rxmCGvZOGuJUcCydT2iy0I4Vw94&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj2yNryjP3cAhWIxbwKHRvLB3gQ6AEwCnoECAQQAQ#v=onepage&q=kaolinite spodumene&f=false
Based on this update I am a little more confident to wait for the core drill results which should tell the true story. Shame about the stop loss raid on the uneducated weak hands but that's just the way it goes, we needed to hit true RSI oversold sooner rather than later I guess prior to drill results.
(20min delay)