Li3 Lithium reports hot grab samples as Zimbabwe exploration gathers pace

Dozens of grab samples from Li3 Lithium’s (TSXV: LILI) Mutare lithium project in eastern Zimbabwe have returned high-grade assay results, the company reported Tuesday as it readies for a drill program in the coming weeks.

Highlights from 72 grab samples collected during the first phase of the 2023 program include lepidolite-felspar-quartz samples grading 3.4% to 4.14% lithium oxide (Li₂O), and 3.96% Li₂O in spodumene-feldspar from the Nels Luck zone, the Toronto-based explorer said in a news release.

“The initial high-grade results, up to 4.14% lithium oxide, suggest the potential for high-grade lithium oxide mineralization at surface and at depth within the eastern section of the property,” Li3 CEO François Auclair said. “We are anxious to commence the 5,000-meter exploration drilling program across the property with emphasis on the Nels Luck group of pegmatites.”

Assays of recent rock samples from the Nels Luck zone of Li3 Lithium’s Mutare project returned high grades of lithium oxide. Credit: Li3 Lithium

Li3’s exploration comes as lithium activity accelerates in the southern African country, which is estimated to hold Africa’s largest lithium resources and the fifth largest globally. Chinese activity in the lithium space there is also picking up, with Reuters reporting on Monday that China’s Yahua Group said the first phase of its lithium mine project in western Zimbabwe will start production in September.

And last December, Bloomberg reported that Chengxin Lithium Group and Sinomine Resource Group both formed a joint venture to explore for the metal in Zimbabwe, and Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt announced plans to invest US$300 million to develop its Arcadia lithium mine, near the capital Harare.

Li3’s Mutare project consists of the Nels Luck and Tals 5 zones in the east, and the Madheu and Bepe West zones in the west, located about 30 km from the Chengxin Lithium Group’s producing Sabi Star lithium tantalum mine.  

The 20-sq.-km set of Mutare licences sit inside the Mutare Greenstone Belt, with Nels Luck hosting a group of lepidolite, spodumene and tantalite-bearing lithium-cesium-tantalum pegmatites across a surface area of about 600 metres by 20 metres.

The exploration program this year includes geological mapping and a surface rock sampling program that will help identify priority targets for the trenching and 5,000-meter exploration drilling program, scheduled to start in the coming weeks. The program will eventually support an initial resource for Mutare.

Li3 gained a 50% interest in Mutare earlier in May, from the 25% it previously held after it acquired the remaining 50% of privately-owned Li3 Resources for US$200,000, giving it 100% interest in Li3 Resources and control of Mutare. The acquisition gave Li3 Lithium a 50% interest in Mutare, with Premier Africa Minerals holding the other 50%. Premier operates the Zulu lithium and tantalum mine, in southwestern Zimbabwe. Last December, Li3 Resources put forward US$250,000 towards exploration at Mutare.

Li3 shares were up almost 4% on Tuesday afternoon in Toronto, and traded at 15¢, in a 52-week window of 5¢ and 30¢, valuing the company at $5.6 million.