Marble Bar
The Marble Bar Lithium Project (MBLP) is located 150km south-east of Port Hedland and 15km north-east of Marble Bar in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.
One of the world’s major hard-rock lithium provinces, the region hosts the world-class Pilgangoora (owned by Pilbara Minerals Limited, ASX: PLS) and Wodgina deposits (owned in joint venture between Albemarle and Mineral Resources Limited, ASX: MIN). The MBLP exhibits spodumene bearing pegmatite intrusives within the project area greenstone, which is a similar geological setting to that as seen in those nearby lithium deposits.
The MBLP is located in a well-established mining region with access to infrastructure. The sealed Marble Bar Road that connects Port Hedland to Marble Bar traverses the tenement area.
Within the MBLP, Global Lithium has to date focused on exploring the Archer deposit, which comprises a swarm of spodumene bearing pegmatites over a 3km by 1km zone. In December 2022, the Company reported an upgraded JORC 2012 Mineral Resource of 18.0 million tonnes at 1.0% Li2O. The upgrade was a 71% increase on the maiden JORC 2012 Mineral Resource of 10.5Mt at 1.0% Li2O declared in June 2020.
The 2022 drilling program at MBLP added 288 drillholes for a total of 45,528m of RC drilling to the resource database. The drilling increased the overall tonnage and an Indicated Resource was defined within an area of infill drilling.
The primary purpose of the program was to test the extent of the lithium-bearing pegmatites and gain valuable knowledge of their formation. The program developed MBLP into a much larger scale exploration project, with the prospective strike length expanding out to 25km length and containing four additional prospective pegmatite corridors.
Previously, assay results from a 5,454m RC drilling program undertaken in Q2 2021 confirmed lithium mineralisation extends over more than 6km of strike, including MBRC0135, which was drilled outside the Archer mineral resource envelope. Exceptional results included: 28m @ 1.51% Li2O and 46ppm Ta2O5 from 69m, and 9m @ 1.11% Li2O and 42ppm Ta2O5 from 108m.
In July 2021, Global Lithium expanded MBLP by completing the acquisition of tenements E45/4669 and E45/4724 immediately south of the Project. The tenements became part of MBLP, almost doubling the size of the Company’s landholding. Tenements E45/5843, E45/5812 and E45/5748 to the east of the Project were all granted by year end.
In September 2021, Global Lithium commenced a 10,000m RC drilling program at the MBLP to further test lithium mineralisation – the third campaign in four months. The program included field work and collection of soil samples in the newly acquired tenements to the south of the Archer deposit.
[1] Significant intercepts calculated at a 0.4% Li2O cut-off grade, minimum 1m thickness and widths including up to 2m internal dilution.