Australia's TG Metals Launches Lithium Drilling at 6.7 Million Tonne Resource

en.Wedoany.com Reported - Australian mining company TG Metals (ASX:TG6) has commenced a diamond drilling program at the Burmeister lithium deposit within the Lake Johnston Project in Western Australia, aimed at preparing spodumene-bearing samples for potential Direct Shipping Ore (DSO) customers.

The drilling will place three holes within the initial Burmeister DSO pit shell, with the entire program expected to take no more than three weeks. After core recovery, the samples will be cut, scanned, and prepared as customer samples; an additional quarter of the core samples will be sent for laboratory analysis. TG Metals stated that the crushed and screened core samples are representative of DSO material from the Lake Johnston project area.

The company is currently in discussions with traders and spodumene customers regarding sample supply, and the interest shown by potential customers in run-of-mine samples supports the DSO development pathway for Burmeister.

Prior to the drilling commencement, the company released a resource estimate for Burmeister totaling 6.7 million tonnes of ore at 1.2% lithium oxide. TG Metals CEO David Selfe stated that the company is fully advancing its plans following the release of its first DSO lithium resource, and that the drilling launch stems from requests by potential offtake partners to obtain run-of-mine samples of lithium-bearing pegmatite. He also noted that rising lithium market prices have driven increased inquiries regarding the Burmeister DSO opportunity, and with the initial DSO pit shell containing 6.7 million tonnes of ore, the project has the potential to become Australia's largest DSO open-pit lithium development.

This drilling is based on the mining lease application the company submitted earlier this year. Preliminary conceptual mine designs are being developed, with one option incorporating the DSO pit shell and supporting infrastructure into Phase 1 operations; Phase 2 operations could involve the construction of a conventional hybrid dense media separation plus flotation plant to produce lithium concentrate. Management stated that the downstream processing stage will leverage the company's previous metallurgical test work and rely on a lithium processing patent currently being applied for. Selfe said that the long-term processing approach remains centered on a hybrid dense media separation-flotation plant producing concentrate, but DSO offers Burmeister a near-term, low-capital-intensity development pathway that can generate cash flow to support the larger-scale concentrate development.

TG Metals continues to evaluate the potential for near-term open-pit DSO operations at Burmeister, with related studies covering mine design, haul roads, off-site transportation, and crushing requirements. The company will next conduct flora, fauna, and Aboriginal heritage surveys along the proposed transport route to support potential off-site material haulage.

Beyond the Burmeister resource, the company is also focused on broader exploration prospects. The previously announced exploration target ranges from 11 million to 14.5 million tonnes of ore at 0.9% to 1.2% lithium oxide; resource definition drilling planned for this quarter is expected to focus on this target. Selfe stated that the recently updated exploration target indicates considerable scope for resource growth through further drilling.

In addition to its lithium operations, TG Metals also plans to commence air-core drilling at the Van Uden Project to test extensional gold laterite targets, with results to be used in the company's ongoing heap-leach studies.