Exploration and development mining company Galileo announced on July 24 that the first two holes of the recently started drill programme over the Kamativi lithium/tin target, in Zimbabwe, have intersected multiple pegmatite dykes, some over substantial widths.

"We are pleased with the thickness of the pegmatite intersections and are highly encouraged by the low potassium/rubidium ratios which academia and past practice shows to be often strongly indicative of lithium presence.

“We are preparing to dispatch some of the core to get an early indication of lithium content as we continue with the drilling programme nearby and on surrounding anomalies," states Galileo Resources chairperson and CEO Colin Bird.

The Kamativi licence EPO 1782 covers an area of 520 km² in western Zimbabwe.

Galileo has an option to earn an 80% interest through spending a combined $1.5-million on exploration and evaluation in the project area and over the Bulawayo gold/nickel property by July 21 next year.

The first two angled holes (KSDD001 and 2) completed to date at Kamativi from a planned 11-hole programme have intersected multiple pegmatite zones up to 18 m in downhole width, the longest running from 28.3 m to 46.3 m in hole KSDD001.

Pegmatites are variable in composition, including feldspars, mica, quartz, accessory black tourmaline and brown garnet, with green alteration in places.

Handheld portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) analysers cannot detect lithium directly. However, preliminary core analysis by pXRF shows low K/Rb ratios in many of the pegmatites, including the widest one, which can be indicative of lithium-bearing lithium/caesium/tantalum pegmatites.

Anomalous tin up to 0.13% associated with low K/Rb pegmatites was also announced.

Galileo plans to send split drill core for quick indicative lithium analysis to a Zimbabwe laboratory, followed by full multielement analysis at the laboratory of  testing and inspection company ALS in Johannesburg, South Africa.