Litchfield targets high-grade manganese in NT
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Michael Busbridge
Litchfield Minerals plans to launch a high-resolution airborne geophysical survey to target multiple hydrothermal manganese occurrences at the Lucy Creek site in the prospective southern Geogina Basin in the NT.
The Lucy Creek project is located 320 kilometers northeast of Alice Springs and covers a large area of 1600 square kilometers. The historically underexplored intracratonic basin hosts extensive high-grade and mapped manganese mineralization, as well as documented base metal anomalies and rare earth element enrichments.
A recently sampled high-grade manganese outcrop in the basin’s sedimentary rocks was lit by 52 percent manganese. Another potential candidate for Litchfield in Lucy Creek 2. High-grade manganese outcrops appear to extend over one square kilometer. Historic shallow drilling at the site has revealed downward extensions showing 3-11 percent low-grade manganese mineralization to a depth of 18 m.
Litchfield says historic drilling has been extremely encouraging for the region’s manganese potential, particularly evidenced by the discovery of numerous undrilled surface manganese widely dispersed over the course of the mission.
‘This survey is an important dataset to improve our understanding of the structural architecture of the project.’
Litchfield Minerals CEO Matthew Pustahya
The company’s first field campaign in September last year returned manganese grades of up to 35 percent, along with base metal enrichment and hydrothermal lead signatures.
Litchfield considers Lucy Creek to be similar to the Bootu Creek manganese zone. The Bootu Creek manganese deposit, owned by ASX-listed OM Holdings, is located 110 km north of Tennant Creek and is a layer-bound, hydrothermally enhanced sedimentary manganese deposit.
Bootu Creek in particular has demonstrated that layer-bound manganese mineralization can form deposits of significant scale and economic importance in the Northern Territory. Initially believed to be superficial mineralization, drilling in 1997 revealed large amounts of manganese oxides 60 m below the surface.
By targeting a conductive electromagnetic conductor in subsequent investigations, two mineable manganese veins were successfully identified. The thickness of these seams was 5-8 meters on average, their length was 2000 meters, and they extended to a depth of 60 meters.
The Bootu Creek deposits contained 20 million tonnes grading 22 percent manganese. Although mining started in 2006, it has been under maintenance and repair since 2022. Remaining resources are estimated at 6.86 million tonnes, 13.18 percent manganese, and historical production is over 10 million tonnes.
Litchfield Minerals CEO Matthew Pustahya said: “This research is an important dataset to improve our understanding of the project’s structural architecture, regolith patterns and possible alteration signatures, and to highlight trap areas where mineralizing fluids focus and precipitate manganese.”
Continued systematic sampling of manganese occurrences, supported by high-resolution airborne magnetics and radiometric data in priority areas and follow-up drilling, Litchfield may be approaching a valuable Bootu Creek-style manganese resource.
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