Geophysics, drill timeline and targets for PUR
Today our Argentinian lithium Investment, Pursuit Minerals (ASX:PUR) announced the results from geophysical surveys from its Rio Grande Sur project in Salta.
The results came from PUR’s largest groundholding on the fringes of the salt lake - Mito which makes up 8,660 hectares of the total ~9,233 hectares of ground PUR holds.
Here are our key takeaways from today’s announcement:
1) PUR set timelines for its drill programs.
PUR expects to drill four holes across its ground on the salt lake this year.
After that the company plans to run one pumping well to determine flow rates.
Below are the drillhole locations for the first phase of drilling:
As for the bigger Mito tenement, PUR is planning four drillholes in 2024 followed by another pumping well.
So the focus for PUR is first on the ground in the salt lake then next year on the larger Mito ground.
PUR’s working theory from the start has always been that the whole salt lake is underexplored and that by drilling deeper a bigger resource could be defined.
Below is a 3D rendering of the geophysics survey at the Mito Tenement:
2) Geophysical surveys showing the margins of the Salt Lake could have brines.
PUR’s Mito tenement sits right on the margins of the salt lake.
PUR’s theory has always been that the lithium brines extend beyond the western margin of the salar basin into the Mito tenement.
The geophysical surveys are showing exactly that, with thick conductive layers (low resistivity) which could represent potential lithium brine reservoirs.
We have also seen one of PUR’s neighbours NOA Lithium drill holes ~2km to the north-east of the Mito tenement and much higher grades than the average published in the current resource estimate.
The grades from that drilling averaged ~773mg/Li, whereas the current resource average is XX.
For context, below is the map of PUR’s tenements in the Rio Grande Sur project with the Mito tenement highlighted in blue and the previous geophysics survey highlighted in red on the left of the image:
To the right of this image is NOA Lithium’s tenements where the 773mg/Li results came from - which we profiled in our latest PUR note.
Importantly, NOA got those results at a depth of 311m - so the fact that PUR is getting good geophysics results from at similar depths (150m to 500m), to us, seems to point to the theory that the brines extend at depth onto PUR’s Mito tenement.
For further context, the significant size of the Mito tenement can be seen below (top left blue square):
As a result of all of today’s information, we’re looking forward to what the Mito tenement can produce, following an initial drill program on the salar tenements which are the smaller tenements by size located directly on the salt flat.
What’s next for PUR?
Exploration program 🔄
PUR’s plan is to drill four exploration holes as part of its stage 1 drill program on the project, drilling is expected to be later this year.
Maiden JORC resource 🔲
After the stage 1 drill program is complete PUR will run a pumping test to see if the brine can be extracted to surface.
After that it will be all about putting together the company’s maiden JORC resource estimate.
