Jadar Identifies Rekovac Potential of Bulk Lithium and Borate Mineralisation in Serbia

Summary

• Jadar’s Yanamina to upgrade Gold resources from current 265,000 ounces in 2020
• 8 kms widely spaced drill holes intersect borate and lithium mineralisation, suggests potential for a large-scale mineralisation system
• Targets remain open laterally to the east, west and south as well as at depth
• Serbian government welcomes battery metals, Rio Tinto to commence development of $1.4 billion lithium borate project
• Intercepts with grades of up to 21,860 parts per million of B₂O₃ and 278 parts per million of lithium oxide recorded

Jadar Resources Limited (ASX:JDR) is a diversified mining explorer holding key Gold/Silver and Lithium/Borate assets in the mineral rich jurisdictions across Peru, Serbia and Austria. Backed by robust and experienced management, Jadar is focused on the exploration and development of the mining projects to maximise the value creation for its shareholders and investors.

Jadar in the Prolific Mining Centres Globally

The most recent addition to the Jadar’s arsenal is the Yanamina epithermal gold Project in the Ancash province of Peru in early 2020. The Yanamina project holds a JORC 2012 compliant maiden mineral resource of 6,742,260 tonnes containing over 265,987 ounces of Gold and 934,528 ounces of Silver. The Yanamina gold projects hold a strong prospectivity for large scale mining operation with good operational economics. An exploration program in 2020 has been planned to further upgrade the mineral resources for the gold-silver project.

Jadar owns 80% stake in the Weinebene and Eastern Alps Lithium Projects in Austria. The project is located in the neighbourhood of significant Lithium discoveries including European Lithium Limited’s Wolfsberg lithium deposit which holds over 11 Mt of mineral resources with 1.0% Li₂O.

In addition, Jadar wholly owns the Lithium & Borate projects of Rekovac, Vranje South and Cer. The explorer has prioritised the Rekovac project among its Serbian assets. The Rekovac Lithium-Borate project stretches across a 75.4 square kilometres area with Sedimentary lithium borate deposits.

Jadar’s Serbian Presence, Reconnaissance Drilling Program Completed

The Rekovac Lithium-Borate project is situated in the World class Vardar geological zone of Central Serbia and showcases similar geological setting to the Jadar Basin which hosts one of the largest lithium deposit globally, Rio Tinto’s Jadarite which holds mineral resources of 135.7 Mt @ 1.86% Li₂O and 15.4% B₂O₃.

Earlier in May, Jadar announced the assay results for the maiden reconnaissance diamond drilling program at the Rekovac project.

The company intersected preserved Borate and Lithium mineralisation in both holes, suggesting the site could hold a large mineral system.

The drilling program which commenced in February discovered new Lithium and Borate mineralisation intersections at 2 holes namely, REK_001 and REK_002 totalling over 1,238.1 metres. The diamond drill hole REK_001 was drilled to a vertical depth of 600.1 metres while REK_002 was drilled to 638 metres, collecting over 339 core samples which were geochemically assayed with 16 samples further being analysed for x-ray diffraction for further analysis on the mineral rock composition and identification.

The drilling program targeted the gravity anomalies, which indicated Neogene basin, which during the previous sampling and assaying results indicated the potential for lithium-boron rich discoveries.

Drill hole location over geology and gravity base at the Rekovac project Source: Jadar Resources

The drilling intercepts included multiple segments of boron sequences. Boron is interpreted to be present in the sodium borosilicate (Searlesite with up to 60,858 ppm B₂O₃) and Lithium clay mineral with Li₂O grades (up to 969 ppm Li₂O).

The drill hole REK_001 intersected 2 sequences of the encapsulated mineralisation represented by searlesite in irregular veinlets and wafered parallel sheets of mm-sized crystals from 515.9 metres and 195 metres of borate rich mineralisation from 405 metres downhole.

The 2.5 metre intercepts with over 10,000 ppm of B₂O₃ and up to 484 ppm Li₂O from 515.9 metres are follows-

• 0.6 metres with 16,454 ppm B₂O₃ and 474 ppm Li₂O from 515.9 metres
• 1.9 metres with 12,349 ppm B₂O₃ and 484 ppm Li₂O from 578.5 metres

The drill hole REK_002 is located almost 1.8 metres south of the first drill hole, with the drilling intersecting 5 mineralised sequences with dominating mineral as searlesite in the form of irregular veinlets and layer from 35 metres and very thin distributed nodules from 98.8 metres downhole.

REK-002 hole included 171 metres of intercept holding B₂O₃ with grades exceeding 10,000 ppm and up to 969 ppm Li₂O from 35 metres downhole with 49.6 metres holding over 20,000 ppm of B₂O₃ and up to 624 ppm Li₂O from 51.5m.

Rekovac project - cross-section (looking westerly) Source: Jadar Resources

Further intervals and coring samples with greater than 10,000 ppm of B₂O₃ will be analysed further by sodium hydroxide fusion and ICP high grade analysis for boron and lithium contents.

With the drilling program striking significant boron and lithium mineralisation in both the drilling holes indicating the presence of a much larger mineralisation system. The gravity survey further indicated that the Rekovac basin remains open to the north and south with a potential to host extensive mineralisation system within the project area.

The completion of the drilling program marks a milestone which enables Jadar to complete all mandatory procedures to extend the Rekovac project license for the next 3 years. The extension notice from the Serbian Ministry of Mines and Energy is anticipated in the near term.

Jadar is advancing aggressively on the Yanamina and Serbian Lithium-Borate projects with further exploration plans in 2020 and is committed to the exploration and development of the projects to maximise the value creation for its shareholders and investors.

On 23 June 2020, Jadar closed at $ 0.012 a share at 1:14 PM AEST, with a market capitalisation of $6.3 million.