The Manna deposit is situated approximately 15km south of Breaker Resources’s 1.4Moz Lake Roe Gold Resource. Outcropping lithium-bearing pegmatite was discovered by prospector Steve Argus while undertaking reconnaissance gold exploration for Breaker Resources.
Mapping confirmed the presence of multiple spodumene-rich pegmatite over a 750m x 130m area, with individual pegmatite dykes up to 18m-wide (Photo 1; ASX Release 31 July 2018).
Breaker drilled five RC holes and four diamond holes below the main outcrop in late 2018 to assess the discovery. Every hole returned multiple intercepts, with results of up to 17m at 1.8% Li2O that project to spodumene-rich outcrop at surface (ASX Release 13 November 2018).
The growth potential extends over a 5km x 1.5km area based on a single fence of scout RC drill holes extending south of the outcrop, and a 200m x 800m, 920-sample auger geochemical programme conducted in 2019 (ASX Release 30 April 2019).
In the main area of outcrop, the stacked nature of the pegmatite dykes over a wide zone with little weathering is favourable for open-pit mining. Preliminary metallurgical testwork indicates the potential to produce a high grade, low impurity spodumene concentrate using heavy liquid separation (ASX Release 31 October 2019).
Assay results are pending for a 2,000m programme of RC drilling completed in late September 2021. The aim of the drilling was to further evaluate the geometry of the spodumene-rich pegmatite in the 750m-long zone of outcrop, and to assess the growth potential away from the main outcrop.