Askari set for polymetallic field program alongside Namibian tin mine
Askari Metals is set to launch a phase one exploration campaign at the company's prospective EPL 7626 area, one of three exploration licences within the company's Namibian polymetallic Uis project.
The licence is contiguous with and about 4 kilometres northeast along strike from Andrada Mining's operating Uis tin mine, which hosts a JORC-compliant estimated mineral resource of 77.51 million tonnes averaging 0.79 per cent lithium oxide, 0.15 per cent tin and 82 parts per million tantalum.
Askari's planned field work includes mapping, rock chip sampling and tenement-wide soil geochemical sampling.
The proposed work will be undertaken by Askari's African exploration crew under the guidance of the company's chief exploration and project manager, Clifford Fitzhenry.
Fitzhenry, a geologist with 21 years' experience, joined Askari two years ago in a then-new role of chief exploration and project manager in Africa. His appointment was a key part of Askari's exploration strategy to accelerate its drilling and development program at its flagship Uis lithium project.
Askari says soil sampling is the company's preferred means of conducting low-cost, effective exploration for buried lithium-caesium-tantalum (LCT) pegmatites in the EPL 7626 licence area.
An LCT pegmatite target is a specific type of granitic pegmatites, which have geological and geochemical characteristics that help exploration companies identify lithium-caesium-tantalum-style pegmatites. The pegmatites may also include tin, niobium and rubidium.
Following the soil geochemistry, the company can follow up and refine its priority targets with trench sampling.
A previous in-house remote sensing study across EPL 7626 identified zones with spectral tin-tantalite signatures characteristic of mica schists, which were also mapped on another of Askari's nearby licence area, EPL 7345.
The company believes mica schists in this second licence area continue northeast beneath Andrada's Uis tin mine and into the EPL 7626 area, most likely beneath cover.
Askari based the remote sensing study on Sentinel-2 multispectral satellite imagery, which can differentiate rock types, map regolith units, and identify surface mineralogy.
The company is now setting up for a licence-wide soil sampling program on an initial 200 metre by 200m sampling grid to pick up any geochemical anomalies associated with buried pegmatites.
The program will comprise about 54 square kilometres and will collect about 1407 samples.
The company will determine any next work from the results of the first phase soil geochemical program on EPL 7626 and will design a follow-up infill sampling program to further test any anomalies encountered.
Askari also expects to receive assay results from its first phase trenching program at EPL7345 over the next few months.
This means that further work on the greater Uis project will comprise a second phase of infill soil geochemical sampling, followed by first phase trenching program at EPL 7626, and then a first phase trenching program on a third licence area.
In other work, Askari is progressing its Ethiopian gold strategy and its Tanzanian uranium strategy and is currently reviewing some prospective projects for potential acquisition.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact:
matt.birney@wanews.com.au
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