Dart extends lithium prospects in Victoria

Dart Mining has extended the lithium strike length at its promising Boones Dyke prospect which forms part of its Dorchap lithium project in Victoria to over 1km where field exploration unearthed rock channel samples grading as high as 2.35 per cent lithium.

A subsequent LIDAR airborne laser mapping program provided further encouragement with the project’s prospectivity appearing to increase towards the north.

As a result of the company’s successful LIDAR program, 357 sites were subjected to field reconnaissance in a search for pegmatite outcropping.

A total of 111 rock chip samples from positively identified pegmatite dyke outcrops were collected and sent for assaying, with 88 sample results returned to date.

Four sample results grading more than 1 per cent lithium oxide were returned, with the best results of 2m at 2.35 per cent and 5m at 2 per cent lithium oxide.

Samples returning 5m at 1.26 per cent and 2m going 1 per cent lithium oxide were other notable results.

The success of the Phase 1 drilling program in June 2023, and another summer field season, has provided us with an opportunity to further develop the scale potential of the Dorchap Lithium project. The identification of the northern extension of the Boones Dyke group to over 1,000m in composite strike length is an exciting development and is a key emerging component of the project.

The company says the results confirm high-grade lithium is present along a strike length of more than 1km, from the south of the Boones group of dykes, to the northerly extension evidenced by the channel samples and rock-chips.

The southerly extent of Boones was drill tested last year and produced a solid hit of 10m at 1.08 per cent and 2m going 1.07 per cent lithium oxide.

Dart believes mineralised pegmatite dykes remain open at depth below the outcrop at the southern end of Boones.

It says the strike trend is also forming a 150m wide corridor across strike, with various individual dykes outcropping, in addition to having identified additional outcropping pegmatites during the on-ground fieldwork.

Further drilling is required to establish a better interpretation of the structural geology underlying the area of strike length.

Encouragingly, the company says anomalous results show a trend from Eagle Dyke running through the central Gosport prospect and up to the northerly extension to Boones, representing a length of about 7km and reflecting a likely north-west to south-east structure.

Dart has identified more than 1500 pegmatite dykes in its tenement package, with many being the highly sought-after lithium-caesium-tantalum (LCT) type. Containing enriched LCT, beryllium and tin mineralisation, many of the pegmatites have been previously worked for tin.

Dart has its foot to the pedal in progressing the required approvals for drill-testing of the highly prospective Gosport dykes and considers it to be the highest priority drill target across the project area.

Gosport’s central zone contains many prospective pegmatite dykes in proximity to demonstrated high-grade rock chips going up to 1.57 per cent lithium oxide, in addition to channel sampling returning assays going 10m at 1.38 per cent.

Dart was the first of the modern-day explorers to discover lithium-bearing pegmatites in Victoria back in 2016 at its Dorchap Range project, culminating in a joint venture (JV) arrangement with Chilean lithium giant SQM. Dorchap is about 50km from the picturesque town of Mount Beauty in Victoria’s north-eastern Alpine Shire region.

The company also has a gold project based in central Victoria and recently began a drill blitz at its historic Rushworth gold project. Dart’s company-owned diamond drill rig is working overtime to smash out the metres at its promising Growlers Hill prospect.

The initial phase-one 1200m drill program is hunting for high-grade gold at the site that sits about 160km north of Melbourne and 65km east of the city of Bendigo. The company says it is testing Growlers Hill and will soon drill the West Growlers prospect using modern exploration methods for the first time.

With the lithium market showing signs of recovery and gold bumping along at all-time highs, it seems this sub-$10m market-capped Dart Mining would be well worth keeping an eye on.

Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@wanews.com.au