Last checked at 22 Nov 2023 07:00
Corcel PLC
("Corcel" or the "Company")
Initial Canegrass Exploration Program Begins
22 November 2023
Corcel Plc (London AIM: CRCL), the Angolan focused exploration and production company, announces the beginning of initial exploration efforts at the Company's 100% owned Canegrass lithium project, in Western Australia.
Antoine Karam, Executive Chairman of Corcel, commented: "We are excited to have our initial field team on site at Canegrass in Western Australia. With lithium remaining extremely attractive across Australasia and meaningful potential for nickel at the project, we expect these results to inform and guide our next steps at the site. Whilst we continue to build momentum in our operations in Angola, we still believe material shareholder value exists in our Western Australian assets and look forward to progressing this activities on the ground."
Exploration Programme:
The Company has engaged APEX Geoscience ("APEX") out of Freemantle, Australia, to conduct initial exploration activities at the Company's Canegrass lithium project. The programme includes a first pass ground truthing programme designed to verify the interpreted pegmatite swarms originally delineated from satellite imagery analysis. The goal of the program is to investigate and confirm both the lithium and nickel prospectivity of the project.
APEX has conducted a desktop review of the historical surface and drilling geochemical data in order to highlight potential target areas for lithium and nickel mineralisation. Rock chip samples will be collected from each target area and these samples will be analysed in the field using a pXRF for Ni and lithium pathfinder elements including Rb, Sn, Cs, Ta, and K/Rb ratios. Geological observations of each pegmatite will be recorded, including the approximate dimensions of each outcropping pegmatite, visual abundances of minerals and if lithium minerals (spodumene, petalite and lepidolite) are present.
All rock chip samples will be submitted to ALS Global in Perth, Western Australia, to confirm field generated pXRF results. Multi-element analysis of the pegmatite samples will be completed using sodium peroxide fusion (ALS code MS-ME89L). Multi-element analysis of the remaining samples will be completed using four acid digestion with ICP-MS finish (ALS code ME-MS61).
The geochemical results from this program will indicate fractionation of the pegmatites and if they are indeed LCT pegmatites and confirm Ni prospectivity.
The field programme is expected to last just under a week, and the Company will make further announcements on the results in due course.
About the Canegrass Lithium Project:
The project covers an area extending over part of the Windimurra Igneous Complex, a large differentiated layered ultramafic to mafic intrusion emplaced within the Yilgarn craton of Western Australia. It is conical to a sheet-like body intruded into the Archaean granite-greenstone terrain of the Murchison Province, outcrops over an area of approximately 2,500 km2 and has an age of approximately 2800 Ma. The complex is dominantly comprised of basic cumulate rocks that can broadly be classified as gabbroic in composition. Magmatic layering dips inwards at the margins and flattens in the centre. It is dissected by large scale strike-slip shear zones so that the original extent of the complex is unknown. The Windimurra Igneous Complex is part of a much larger suite of similarly layered ultramafic to mafic bodies emplaced between 2,700-2,800Ma across the Murchison Province. Collectively, these complexes are similar in thickness, volume, and composition to the Bushveld Igneous Complex of South Africa.
The project is predominately underlain by the lower zone of the Windimurra Intrusive Complex, a series of olivine-rich gabbro and gabbronorite which grade upwards into more leucocratic gabbroic rocks. The Lower zone is separated into a western and eastern lobe by the Shephards Discordant Zone ("SDZ"), which represents a significant break in the igneous stratigraphy and is characterised by magnetite and magnetite-bearing gabbro. To the east of the SDZ lies a package of mafic volcanic rocks, felsic volcaniclastic sandstones, and banded iron-formation bounded by the Wyemandoo Shear Zone and are part of the Norie Group.
Historic exploration completed by Aldoro has consisted of satellite imagery interpretation, geochemical sampling, rock chip sampling and an initial phase of drilling. Due to the high degree of outcrop exposure and lack of vegetation, satellite imagery interpretation provides a rapid low-cost evaluation method to initially review and target pegmatite swarms. A satellite imagery-based interpretation was conducted by HMAN across the entirety of the Canegrass Lithium Project and revealed extensive swarms of what is being interpreted as pegmatites. These interpreted pegmatites are located within the same lithologies and setting as that at Aldoro's Project. Furthermore, rock chip sampling conducted by Aldoro has confirmed the presence of high-grade rubidium with associated lithium mineralisation 1,400 m to the east of the Canegrass Lithium Project.
For further information, please contact:
Antoine Karam Corcel Plc Executive Chairman
Development@Corcelplc.com
James Joyce / James Bavister /Andrew de Andrade WH Ireland Ltd NOMAD & Broker
0207 220 1666
Patrick d'Ancona Vigo Communications IR
0207 3900 230
The information contained within this announcement is deemed to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014 which is part of UK law by virtue of the European Union (withdrawal) Act 2018. Upon the publication of this announcement, this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.