- Krakatoa Resources (KTA) delivers an “impressive” maiden mineral resource estimate for its King Tamba critical metals project in Western Australia
- The initial resource includes five million tonnes at 0.14 per cent rubidium and lithium, containing 7300 tonnes of each mineral
- Krakatoa says the mineralisation in the area starts from near the surface and remains open in all directions
- KTA is now planning follow-up work to grow the resource estimate by re-examining historical drill holes
- Shares in KTA are down 5.71 per cent to 3.3 cents at 10:21 am AEDT
Krakatoa Resources (KTA) has delivered an “impressive” maiden mineral resource estimate for its King Tamba critical metals project in Western Australia.
The initial resource includes five million tonnes at 0.14 per cent rubidium and lithium, containing 7300 tonnes of each mineral.
According to KTA, the resource estimate is larger than expected. Moreover, the mineralisation in the area lies close to the surface and remains open in all directions.
The company said it was now planning a follow-up infill drilling program to expand the resource estimate further.
“We have defined a robust resource at a solid grade and the overall numbers have come in beyond expectations, which places the company in an exciting position to continue to develop King Tamba into a major, multi-commodity, critical metals project,” KTA’s CEO, Mark Major, said.
“Work completed to date has provided the company with a better geological understanding of the pegmatite clusters surrounding the old historical tantalum mine, and we believe there are great opportunities to significantly grow the mineral resource through exploration and development efforts in 2023 and beyond.”
KTA will begin region-wide exploration work around the project shortly, primarily focused on known pegmatites south of the current mineral resource.
Before completing the resource estimate, historic drill holes were tested to find tantalum and niobium mineralisation but were not assayed for rubidium.
Krakatoa wanted to extend the resource by incorporating these historical drill holes but stated it wasn’t possible as the link between elements was not sufficient enough to warrant further exploration.
However, KTA believes following up on the historic drill holes can provide a near-term opportunity to fast-track the resource estimate’s growth.
Shares in KTA were down 5.71 per cent to 3.3 cents at 10:21 am AEDT.