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Piedmont Lithium sampling returns high-grade lithium at new property in Carolina Tin Spodumene Belt

Published: 21:16 09 May 2018 EDT

North Carolina entry sign
Initial drilling is scheduled to start in coming weeks

Piedmont Lithium Ltd (ASX:PLL) (Nasdaq:PLLL) has identified high-grade lithium mineralisation at the new Sunnyside property near its Piedmont Lithium Project in North Carolina, USA.

Grab samples have returned up to 3.47% lithium oxide with other high-grade results including 2.82%, 2.1% and 1.99% with mineralisation hosted in fine to coarse grained pegmatite.

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The 255-acre property is immediately south of the historical Hallman Beam Mine and less than five miles from the Piedmont project.

Hallman Beam was operated by FMC Corp (NYSE:FMC) for 43 years.

Piedmont’s properties are in the prolific Carolina Tin Spodumene Belt and along trend to Hallman Beam and Kings Mountain mines, which provided most of the western world’s lithium between the 1950s and the 1990s.

READ: Piedmont Lithium enhances its lithium package in North Carolina, US

President and chief executive officer Keith Phillips said: “We are excited about the prospectivity of our new property.

“The naming is intended to highlight the potential significance of the Sunnyside area to the broader Piedmont Lithium Project.”

Two large surface exposures of spodumene-bearing pegmatite have been identified by initial sampling and mapping.

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These will be the main target of initial drilling which Piedmont intends to start in the coming weeks following completion of infill drilling on the core property.

Initial drilling is expected to consist of four to six diamond drill holes totalling 600-1000 metres.

Maiden Piedmont resource expected

“A successful drill campaign is nearing completion on the core property and a maiden resource is expected by the end of June,” Phillips said.

“We will then turn our attention to Sunnyside, where we are hopeful that mine-life and/or throughput additions will have a materially positive impact on the economics of the integrated project.”

Two exposures recognised

Initial Sunnyside interpretations recognise two bodies that generally trend to the west-northwest, sub-parallel to the trend of the historic Hallman Beam deposit.

Surface exposures of outcrop/sub-crop/float range from 60 metres by 150 metres for the northern body and from 25 metres by 150 metres for the southern body.

Coarse-grained varieties commonly contain spodumene crystals greater than 10 centimetres in length.

Locally, textural and/or compositional banding is observed which consistently dips moderately to the south.

About 280 metres southwest of the main occurrence, several float blocks were sampled and returned 2.61% Li2O.

Also, to the southwest, the property owner reported spodumene in cuttings from a drilled water well.

High-priority target

Piedmont is highly encouraged by these initial results and considers the Sunnyside exposures as a high-priority drill target.

The company is in a unique position to leverage its position as a first mover in restarting exploration in this historic lithium producing region.

Its aim is to develop a strategic, US domestic source of lithium to supply the increasing electric vehicle and battery storage markets.

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on 12/04/2023