- AVZ Minerals (AVZ) opens the new trading week in the green after releasing a fresh round of assay results from its Manono Lithium and Tin Project
- The results come from four “step out” holes at the Carriere de l’Este deposit at the Manono Lithium and Tin Project in the Democratic Republic of Congo
- AVZ says with all four holes returning lithium oxide and tin mineralisation, Carriere de l’Este rivals the Roche Dure deposit in the project area
- Managing Director Nigel Ferguson says the company will now plan more focussed infill drilling for high-grade zones in the Carriere de l’Este area
- Shares in AVZ Minerals are up 6.12 per cent, trading at 26 cents each at 11:42 am AEST
Junior miner AVZ Minerals (AVZ) has opened the new trading week in the green after releasing a fresh round of assay results from its Manono Lithium and Tin Project.
The results come from the Carriere de l’Este pegmatite at the project, which is in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
As part of the program, AVZ drilled four “step-out” holes in the area to find more high-grade spodumene rich zones for future infill resource estimation drilling.
The best results from this round of drilling include a 12.05-metre hit at 2.41 per cent lithium oxide and 735 parts per million (ppm) tin, and a 21.09-metre hit at 2.1 per cent lithium oxide and 943 ppm tin.
AVZ said all four holes returned hits of more than 2 per cent lithium oxide.
This means mineralisation at the Carriere de l’Este prospect is now confirmed at 1.2 kilometres long, though it remains open at both ends and down dip.
Further, the results show that the Carriere de l’Este deposit could rival the 400-million-tonne Roche Dure deposit in the project area.
AVZ Managing Director Nigel Ferguson said the assay results show “highly encouraging” mineralisation 400 meters closer to the historical Carriere de l’Este open pit.
“The holes were deliberately widely spaced to try and help track the location of the high-grade zones mapped further to the southwest along this massive deposit and, to that extent, the drilling has been successful,” Mr Ferguson said.
He said the information gathered from this latest program would be used to plan more focussed infill drilling for high-grade zones in the Carriere de l’Este area.
“This new information has allowed the location of the hanging wall contact to be expanded in areas of poor outcrop, which will help with the efficient targeting of future resource drilling of the overall Carriere de l’Este deposit,” Mr Ferguson said.
He added that though tin production only accounted for a small portion of the Manono project’s overall value, strengthening tin and tantalum prices justified some ramped up exploration work at the project.
Shares in AVZ Minerals were up 6.12 per cent, trading at 26 cents each at 11:42 am AEST.