As Core Lithium realises its goal of becoming Australia’s next lithium producer, the company has a trick up its sleeve to complete exploration 100 times faster than traditional drilling techniques.
‘ExoSphere’ is a new technology that has been developed by South-Australian-based company Fleet Space Technologies.
Core Lithium inked a one-year ExoSphere contract with Fleet Space in early November following successful trials at the Finniss lithium project’s BP33 prospect. Fleet Space undertook an ambient noise tomography (ANT) survey at BP33 to detect pegmatites at depth.
“Finding a successful geophysical technique for identifying the Finniss pegmatites has been elusive, and the ability to target blind pegmatites is seen as a major breakthrough in exploration for the project,” Core Lithium said.
“The (ANT) results were an outstanding success, with the BP33 body imaged as a low S-wave velocity anomaly, showing excellent correlation with the pegmatite body interpreted from drilling.”
Understanding the important role it has to play in the electric vehicle (EV) revolution, Core Lithium is pulling out all the stops to ensure its Finniss project near Darwin lives up to its potential.
Speaking at Core’s recent annual general meeting (AGM), chair Greg English said the lithium company would look to at least double its exploration budget in 2023. Core is aiming to achieve first lithium production by the end of 2022.
ExoSphere is also suited to exploration for metals such as nickel and rare earths. The technology produces three-dimensional subsurface images that enable geologists to better pinpoint prospects.
Fleet Space believe explorers can monitor progress as subsurface detail “in as little as four days”.
The Australian Financial Review reported that Fleet Space had recently embarked on a capital raise to gather more than its $US26.4 million ($39.7 million) placement in November 2021.
The ‘Series B’ funding provided a critical boost for Fleet Space at a time when the company was eager to scale its offerings. Company chief executive officer and founder Flavia Tata Nardini said the investment secured “the long-term sustainable growth of Fleet Space”.