Alchemy (ASX:ALY) cranks up exploration at Karonie gold & lithium project

Highlights

• Alchemy Resources has undertaken exciting exploration activities across its wholly owned Karonie Project.
• Along the lithium prospective Goldilocks trend, the company has finished regional soil geochemical sampling.
• ALY has wrapped up a detailed mapping and sampling program over the high-priority lithium targets.
• The company undertook gold exploration drilling at three prospects.

Alchemy Resources Limited (ASX:ALY) is committed to the development of its flagship and 100%-owned Karonie Project in Western Australia. The company is progressing swiftly to develop the project, which has potential for lithium and gold mineralisation.

In the latest development, the company has completed multiple exploration programs, including infill soil sampling, mapping, rock chip sampling and drilling operations across the project. Moreover, within the ‘Goldilocks zone’, the project witnessed a regional soil geochemical sampling program, designed to target gold and lithium.

Alchemy collected a total of 68 rock chip samples, 278 RC drill samples, and 2,264 soil samples during its latest exploration season.

Overview of exploration activities over Karonie

Lithium hunt - Alchemy has identified four lithium prospects in the Karonie gold tenements- Cherry, Hickory, Mesquite and Pecan.

The company undertook detailed mapping and rock-chip sampling operations over all four prospects. The objective was to map additional pegmatite bodies and identify the most prospective zones through zonation of pegmatites.

The field team collated more rock chip samples and infilled the existing soil geochemistry on a pattern of 100mX40m. The program delineated further pegmatites within the overall mapped dimensions of the zone, increasing to 7.3kmX1.5km.

Photographs of pegmatite outcrop at Cherry and Hickory prospects (Image source: Company update, 5 July 2022)

The mapping program led to numerous additional outcrop pegmatites with a combined strike extending greater than 1.4km. This resulted in the delineation of broad zones of high rubidium anomalism around Cherry and tantalum-rich zones at Hickory, the highest being 122ppm Ta.

Infill soil and rock chip sampling over the Cherry, Hickory and Pecan prospects was completed in June 2022, and samples have been sent to the lab for multi-element analysis.

The Karonie tenement covers over 50km of strike extent along the contact zone of regional granite. These areas lie in the prospective corridor of the ‘Goldilocks zone’, where lithium-caesium-tantalum (LCT) pegmatites exist. Alchemy undertook a regional soil sampling program in a grid of 400mX400m to explore the LCT potential. The program saw the collection of 1,471 samples, sent to the lab for analysis.

Gold exploration - Alchemy carried out a reverse circulation drilling campaign over the Karonie East and KZ5 gold prospects, covering 18 holes for 2,412m.

On Karonie East, holes were designed to test a magnetic feature that runs over a 2km strike length in the northern zone. The company believes that a north-east trending structural dislocation controls gold mineralisation in the region. A total of 17 holes were drilled on the Karonie East.

Alchemy drilled one RC hole over the KZ5 prospect, aimed at testing an electro-magnet (EM) plate historically defined to the north of the existing defined resources. The hole was drilled to a depth of 198m and intersected massive sulphide zones between a depth of 155m and 161m, in line with the modelled depth of the EM plate.

The samples from the drilling operation have been sent to the lab for assaying.

Data source: company update

ALY shares traded at AU$0.017 on 6 July 2022, up over 21% from the last close.