Andrada Mining has announced that all holes in its latest drill program near the Uis mine in Namibia intersected lithium and tantalum.
Known as the Spodumene Hill project, the best intercepts were between 14.5 meters (m) at 1.38% Li2O and 11m at 0.81% Li2O at shallow depths, with additional tantalum shows of between 282-1,101 parts per million (ppm) in these holes.
“These drill results provide an initial glimpse into the potential of the Spodumene Hill project. The identified high-grade lithium intersections within the pegmatite could be separated through ore sorting to provide a potentially high-grade pre-concentrate for the lithium processing plant,” said Andrada CEO Anthony Viljoen.
“These results have also highlighted the tantalum potential of this area and the relevance of the recently constructed tantalum recovery circuit.”
He mentioned that the proximity of the Spodumene Hill Project to the existing operations provides an immediate opportunity for additional revenues from the project area by blending tantalum grades.
“The highlighted intersections provide a promising starting point for the next phase of exploration, which will aim to define the extent of these zones both laterally and with depth,” Viljoen added.
The Andrada CEO also announced that the listed company had kicked off a metallurgical program at its Namibian lithium-tantalum project.
“We have also initiated a metallurgical program to investigate the optimal beneficiation process for the recovery of both lithium and tantalum while also producing tin as a by-product,” he said.
Tantalum is a critical metal used in various electronic components and has strong market demand.
Andrada Mining, formerly Afritin Mining, is a London-listed technology metals mining company with a portfolio of mining and exploration assets in Namibia.
