Balkan Mining and Minerals Ltd (ASX: BMM; “BMM” or “the Company”) provides the Company’s quarterly activities report for the three months ended 31 December 2023 (“Quarter”).
The maiden 2,500m diamond drilling program undertaken at the highly prospective the Gorge Lithium Project in Ontario, Canada with visual spodumene observed across campaign and laboratory assays pending. Key strategic and operational milestones were achieved during the quarter, outlined below.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Diamond drilling undertaken at the Gorge Lithium Project with for a program of 2,500m with spodumene bearing pegmatites encountered in several holes drilled
- Drill program currently awaiting assays for approximately 180 samples
- Clearing and stripping work undertaken in preparation for the drill program reveals previously unmapped pegmatites and extensions to some known pegmatite occurrences at Gorge, further underlining the project’s potential
- Balkan remains committed to evaluating new project opportunities
- Mr Karl Simich appointed Non-Executive Chairman
Balkan Mining and Minerals, Managing Director, Ross Cotton commented:
“The maiden diamond drilling activity conducted at our flagship Gorge Lithium Project in Ontario, Canada has revealed a widespread and prolific pegmatite hosted spodumene geology. We eagerly anticipate assays from the 2,500m program which will inform our next steps in advancing this exciting lithium-focused opportunity.
Whilst we remain extremely upbeat on the prospectivity of Gorge, the Board is continually reviewing opportunities to improve and diversify our project portfolio and will advise our shareholders of any new potentialities if and when appropriate.
Gorge Lithium Project (Ontario, Canada)
During the quarter, Balkan primarily focussed on exploration activities associated with the Company’s Gorge Lithium Project in Ontario, Canada.
In October, Balkan announced that visual spodumene mineralisation had been observed in the first holes drilled at the Nelson pegmatite occurrence at Gorge (refer to ASX Announcement dated 16 October 2023). As the program was progressed, spodumene mineralisation has been visually identified in 8 of the first 10 holes completed in the program at both the Nelson and Koshman pegmatite prospects (refer to ASX Announcement dated 12 December 2023). The Company currently awaits assays on approximately 180 samples taken from the program and will inform the market as they come to hand.
The stripping and clearing associated with drilling preparation exposed extensions to known pegmatite occurrences at surface with the Nelson pegmatite strike now extending more than 200m. In addition, a new pegmatite dyke north east of Nelson, SP-23-2 was revealed to extend some 50m in strike length with widths at surface ranging from 2.6-5m thick and visual spodumene between 5-15% content.
The diamond drilling program was briefly paused during October after the observation of the traditional hunting season of the region’s First Nation peoples. Shortly after the resumption of drilling, the Company took the decision to engage global drilling house Major Drilling Group International Inc to complete the program with a fit-for-purpose drill rig which led to substantial improvements in drilling rates and efficiency.
Whilst Balkan is awaiting the assays from the diamond drilling program, the Company notes that the most recently reported drilling included hole KS-23-009, which encountered 16.8m of spodumene mineralisation from 5.8m depth.
During the quarter, the Company made the payment of AU$60,000 cash and AU$100,000 in BMM shares to the vendor of the Gorge Lithium Project to move to 50% beneficial ownership of the project (for full details, refer to ASX Announcement dated 4 July 2022).
At a local level, Balkan continues to engage with relevant stakeholders including First Nations communities, land holders and regulatory agencies and authorities.
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