Mineral Resources (MinRes) has announced that preliminary development works have begun at its Mount Marion lithium project in Western Australia.
Mount Marion is located approximately 40km southwest of Kalgoorlie in the Goldfields region of Western Australia. The operation is jointly owned by MinRes (50 per cent) and global lithium hydroxide producer, Jiangxi Ganfeng Lithium (50 per cent).
During Q2 FY24, a diamond drilling program increased confidence in the underground resource in the mine’s upper North Pit.
Drilling confirmed the North Pit underground ore body is vertically dipping with a strike length of 500m and a thickness of 30–60m. Pegmatites were intercepted around 1.2km below the surface.
MinRes also recently announced that the underground Mineral Resource at Mount Marion had doubled to 19.3Mt, with a full underground study targeted for completion by mid-2024.
A development contract has been awarded to locally-based specialist underground development contractor, Develop Global, for the establishment of an exploration decline at Mount Marion.
Works include the establishment of surface facilities supporting underground mining activity, installation of underground mine infrastructure, excavating underground capital development and exploration drill platforms and obtaining geological and operational data to support future mining activities.
A project milestone was recently achieved through the successful first blast fired for the decline box-cut, with significant earthworks now under way to support a target depth of 350m within the next 18 months.
During this time, MinRes said it aims to complete an additional 80,000m of reverse circulation and diamond drilling targeting the underground resource below the mine’s Central and C2 pits to further map and define the underground potential.
Chief Executive Lithium, Joshua Thurlow, said that the start of preliminary underground works marked an exciting new phase for one of the world’s few operating hard rock lithium mines.
“MinRes has been managing all open pit mining operations at Mount Marion since 2016 and this site is a key asset in our growing world-class lithium portfolio.
“Recent underground exploration success has confirmed that we’ve barely scratched the surface of this mine’s potential.
“Having now doubled the underground Mineral Resource, we’re pushing ahead with building the necessary infrastructure and technical expertise to transition Mount Marion into an open pit and underground mining operation.”
Featured image: Mount Marion lithium operation in Western Australia. Image credit: Mineral Resources.
