SLM second drill rig arrive as it chases major lithium discovery
Today, our Brazilian lithium Investment, Solis Minerals (ASX: SLM) confirmed that a second drill rig had arrived at its lithium project in Brazil.
We think it’s a signal of intent from SLM, that it intends to aggressively drill out the project - an approach to exploration that notably worked well for one of our best ever Investments, Latin Resources.
The second drill rig will assist with speeding up the ongoing drill program at the Estrella project in the Borborema project which we profiled in our latest note on SLM:
Click here to read our latest SLM note
The initial drill program will consist of 23 holes for 3,600m of drilling across multiple outcropping pegmatites, one of which can be seen below:
Today’s announcement also included an update on what SLM intends to do with some of the northern tenements it has in its expansive Borborema tenement portfolio.
SLM said that a large geochemical sampling program would commence at these tenements to find more drill targets that can be tested with future drill programs in 2024.
What’s next for SLM?
🔲 Assay results
With drilling now underway we are watching for the following:
- During drilling - We want to see visual spodumene in the drillcores. Spodumene is generally the host rock for high grade lithium, visual spodumene will be a positive first indication of potential economic lithium mineralisation.
- After drilling - This will be all about waiting for the assay result — we’ll be looking for lithium grades above a level that is considered typically economic.
We have set up expectations for the assays as follows:
- Bull case (exceptional result) = Lithium grades >1.5%.
- Base case (good result) = Lithium grades 1-1.5%.
- Bear case (poor result) = Lithium grades <1%.
