Widgie Nickel has updated its mineral resource estimate (MRE) for the Faraday and Trainline deposits in Western Australia.
The changes to the MRE follow Widgie Nickel’s discovery that both deposits had returned materially higher lithium results than previously reported.
A total of 3371 samples had been re-assayed, with the results finding a 64 per cent increase in lithium grade.
The total MRE for Faraday and Trainline is now 1.96 million tonnes (Mt) at 0.69 per cent of lithium, while the measured and indicated resource for Faraday is now 1.57Mt at 0.71 per cent of lithium, and Trainline’s is 1.60Mt at 0.63 per cent of lithium.
This has resulted in a 375 per cent increase in the Faraday and Trainline lithium mineral resources.
“Widgie’s lithium endowment is now shown in a true light. With a high-grade core and a significant portion of the resource identified to date lying at less than 60m depth, readily amenable to low-cost open pit exploitation,” Widgie Nickel managing director and chief executive officer Steve Norregaard said.
“This is now the beginning of a true growth story as we focus on production in the foreseeable future with a clear mandate to expand our lithium vision for the company and its future.”
The company said that exploration potential remains for repeat stacked pegmatites below the main Faraday and Trainline mineralisation.
The Faraday and Trainline lithium deposits are central to Widgie’s Mt Edwards project, which is located 75km south of the major regional centre of Kalgoorlie and 40km south west of Kambalda in WA.
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