Litchfield Minerals Identifies Additional Anomalies with IP Survey at Silver Valley

An initial induced polarisation (IP) survey completed last month by Litchfield Minerals (ASX: LMS) at its Silver Valley project in the Northern Territory has provided new information on the geometry of the mineralised system.

Three planned survey lines totalling 5.1 line kilometres have materially improved the company’s understanding of the project’s mineralisation, with the northern IP line containing a chargeability response immediately west of the known Silver Valley workings.

Modelling also suggests a possible continuation at depth towards the west.

The two southern lines showed a more elevated chargeability towards the western side of the survey and, when integrated with concurrent field mapping, suggests the IP survey design may not have fully tested the most prospective structural zones.

High-grade Assays

The initial IP survey followed recent high-grade rock chip assays from the Silver Valley area which graded up to 378 grams per tonne silver, 44.9% lead and 5.04% copper.

Field reconnaissance at Silver Valley in May returned new rock chip samples collected from dumps next to historical shafts and workings and generating results of 470g/t silver, 23.2% lead and 19.2% copper; and 342g/t silver, 36.8% lead and 16.1% copper.

Litchfield is now prioritising follow-up work to better understand the relationship between the chargeability responses, deeper structural features and the known high-grade silver mineralisation at Silver Valley before launching a revised IP program.

The company is currently conducting magnetotelluric (MT) and gravity programs around its flagship Oonagalabi polymetallic project in the Harts Range near Alice Springs, after which it will redeploy its field teams to Silver Valley to support the follow-up work while avoiding unnecessary standby and mobilisation costs.

Important Structural Control

Litchfield managing director Matthew Pustahya said the first three IP lines had challenged the company’s original interpretation and provided a better basis for the next phase of work.

“Rather than continue spending money against a survey design that may no longer be optimally positioned, we made the decision to stop, integrate the data, and investigate the western side of the system before completing the program,” he said.

“The western chargeability responses and deeper resistivity features may be pointing us towards an important structural control that was not adequately covered by the original survey footprint so our geological team will now test that interpretation in the field and use those observations to optimise the remaining IP lines.”

“This is the exploration discipline and agility that we continue to apply across Litchfield: let the data challenge the model, change the plan when the evidence changes, and make sure each additional dollar is spent testing the best geological interpretation available.”