"Grade only comes into play when a resource is known". Well that's blatantly false, grade is critical at every step of the exploration process. If MLS don't find significant grade they will stop drilling it further, resulting in nil JORC definable resource.
The below information is based off spodumene not being present (which is supported based off what the company MLS is saying, the assay grades of Li and Rb and the RC photos):
I can tell you now with 99% confidence you won't get large intercepts over 2%, sure maybe a 1m intercept here or there. But the mineralogy simply doesn't allow for that. Lepidolite has a Li mol. wt% of 3.58%, and Li2O oxide wt% of 7.7%. You need the whole rock to be composed unanimously of lepidolite for a Li2O grade of ~7%. You simply do not find pegmatites consisting entirely of mica because again, it breaks the rules of geochemistry (Bowen's reaction series if you would like to understand why). Looking at MLS's previous results of ~1-1.2% across 16m, you can assume lepidolite makes up ~15% (1.2 / 7.7) of the whole rock composition of the pegmatite. However, there was a 3m section at 1.65%, which represents a higher grade zone, so this section was ~21% lepidolite. For grades greater than 2% Li2O, you would need upwards of 26% lepidolite - which I'm not saying isn't possible, however based on the current known data, MLS's higher grade zones are closer to the 20% lepidolite composition. The rest will be quartz, feldspars, other non-Li bearing micas.
The 1% comes from if there is a spodumene dominant pegmatite deeper in this system which could yet be proven.
MLS Price at posting:
9.5¢ Sentiment: None Disclosure: Not Held
