Battery grade graphite and magnesite developer Archer Exploration Limited has expanded its lithium prospective holdings on South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula with the acquisition of additional acreage hosting lithium prospective pegmatite rocks.
According to the ASX release by Archer, the new tenement area (ELA 2016/057) abuts two north-eastern boundaries of its existing and large 2,300km2 Eyre Peninsula holdings, which host the Company’s Campoona battery grade graphite and Sugarloaf agricultural carbon projects north of Cleve.
“The newly acquired area is in addition to multiple occurrences of outcropping pegmatite veins with tourmaline and associated tin mineralisation and historic spodumene occurrences reported to the SA miners Department, noted in an updated report by Archer earlier this month on the lithium potential of its existing large Eyre Peninsula holdings,” reads the announcement.
The company’s Executive Chairman, Mr Greg English remarked that the lithium potential on the Eyre Peninsula has never been tested despite the presence of extensive lithium bearing pegmatites, tin tourmaline and spodumene mineralisation.
“As Archer has been actively exploring the Eyre Peninsula for the past eight years, our built-up experience of this multiple commodity and richly mineralised region does give us an advantage over the other explorers in terms of identifying the lithium potential of the Eyre Peninsula,” he said.
According to Mr English, the company’s focus will remain on the development of its graphite and magnesite projects.
“However, as we have such a large tenement holding in a highly prospective and geologically rich part of South Australia, we recognise the upside of continually assessing our tenement areas for new opportunities in line with market and sector developments. This strategy has been successful for Archer in the past as is evidenced by our early discovery of the high quality battery grade Campoona graphite project on Eyre Peninsula now under development.”
“Within this mix, we see lithium exploration as complementary to our mainstream graphite focus as the natural buyers of Archer’s battery grade graphite will also be buyers of lithium.”
