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Cadence Minerals Plc (AIM/NEX: KDNC; OTC: KDNCY) is pleased to report that Macarthur Minerals in which Cadence currently owns a 16.3% shareholding, has announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire the Marble Bar Lithium Project and Pippingarra Lithium Tantalite Project in the Pilbara region of Western Australia through a 50:50 joint venture with Southern Hemisphere Mining Ltd (ASX: SUH).

The full Macarthur announcement can be found at: http://web.tmxmoney.com/article.php?newsid=6222707380115616&qm_symbol=MMS

Acquisition of the Projects will expand Macarthur Minerals’ interests in hard rock lithium acreage in Western Australia to over 2,400 km² through its majority shareholding of Macarthur Australia Limited.

THE PROJECTS

Macarthur Minerals and SUH have jointly entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with Great Sandy Pty Ltd, a private Australian company controlled by well-respected Western Australian prospector, Denis O’Meara, which will serve as a framework for a Purchase Agreement, to acquire the Marble Bar Lithium Project and the Pippingarra Lithium Tantalite Project. The location of the Projects is shown in Figure 1. 

Marble Bar Lithium Project

The Marble Bar Lithium Project consists of four granted Exploration Licences (E45/4669, E45/4690, E45/4724 and E45/4746) covering 368 km² located between 10 and 50 km east of Marble Bar in the East Pilbara region of Western Australia.

Marble Bar is located 200 km south east of Port Hedland and approximately 100 km east of the emerging world class Pilgangoora and Wodgina lithium province.

Reconnaissance exploration conducted in 2016 by Denis O’Meara and geologist, Brian Richardson, on behalf of Great Sandy, discovered new lithium bearing pegmatite swarms within a small area of E45/4669. Most of the remaining tenement area is underexplored. The north-south striking mineralized pegmatites occur within a 4 km wide corridor extending on the surface for over 3.5 km.   Individual pegmatites were traced for up to 1 km in outcrop with widths of between 5 and 15 m. The lithium minerals, spodumene and lepidolite are abundant in most pegmatites with spodumene dominant in the northern pegmatites. All pegmatites dip shallowly to the east.

Great Sandy collected 79 rock chip samples from the outcropping pegmatites and adjacent granitic country rock returning peak values of 3.72% Li₂O and 3.32% Li₂O. Thirty of the collected samples returned assays better than 1% Li₂O (Table 1, Table 4 and Figure 4). Several samples contained visibly abundant spodumene with the mineralogy confirmed by X-ray powder diffraction (“XRD”) and petrographic analysis (Figure 2).

The Marble Bar Lithium Project contains the first reported significant spodumene discovery in the East Pilbara outside of the Pilgangoora-Wodgina area. It is the first discovery of spodumene-rich pegmatites within a granitic host rock.  This discovery has opened up for exploration the entire Marble Bar Lithium Project area within the granites of the Mt Edgar batholith and importantly also within the nearby greenstones.

The Marble Bar Lithium Project is underlain by granites and gneisses of the Mt Edgar batholith, an early Archaean granitic complex composed of gneisses, granite, mafic enclaves and granitic pegmatites.  Along the intrusive western contact of the batholith are strongly deformed mafic and ultramafic rocks of the Warrawoona Group within E45/4724.  The Marble Bar Lithium Project is situated adjacent to the Moolyella tin field and near to the Moolyella Adamellite, a late Archaean (younger) granite intrusion. This intrusion is believed to be the ultimate source of all the tin, tantalum and lithium in the district (Figure 3).

In November 2016, Australian Securities Exchange listed Blaze International Limited (ASX: BLZ) conducted a limited reverse circulation (“RC”) drilling program on E45/4669, consisting of 12 shallow holes, 702 m, targeting only three of the known mineralised pegmatites. Drilling returned significant lithium results within broad low-grade zones of mineralisation. Lithium was intercepted in most holes with seven holes containing narrow but higher grade zones. Hole MBRC006 returned one of the best intercepts of 14 m @ 0.58% Li₂O from 0 to14 m including a higher-grade interval of 3 m @ 1.48% Li₂O from 8 m. The drilling confirmed the shallow 30 – 35 degree easterly dip to the pegmatites and indicated that the pegmatites are often associated with broad mineralized alteration haloes indicating a large and pervasive mineralizing event (Tables 2 and 3). All the rock chip and drill assay results are contained in Tables 4 and 5.

A Qualified Person for the purposes of NI 43-101 has not done sufficient work to classify the historical estimate as a current Mineral Resource or Mineral Reserve and Macarthur is not treating the historical estimate as a current mineral resource or mineral reserve. As such, the historical estimates should not be relied upon.

Planned immediate exploration will focus on locating other mineralized pegmatite swarms within the 368 km²  project area focusing initially on the extensive area of strongly deformed greenstone within E45/4724 (Figure 5).  This work will involve geological mapping and rock sampling followed by RC drilling of all priority areas.

Pippingarra Lithium Tantalite Project

The Pippingarra Lithium and Tantalite Project consists of two Exploration Licence Applications (E45/4691 and E45/4759) covering 181 km² located 27 km south east of Port Hedland.

The tenements are underlain by a large area of the Archaean Strelley Granite rimmed by sediments and volcanics of the Mallina Formation and the Louden Volcanics.  The project also contains a regional north east trending structure sub-paralleling the nearby Tabba Tabba Shear, which hosts the Tabba Tabba tantalite deposits and historical mining centre (Figure 6). 

The tenements surround the Pippingarra quarry which was recently mined for feldspar and muscovite contained within a large pegmatite body. A small tantalite, columbite, beryl mine also operated within the excised tenements in the 1950-1960s. The Bore Creek alluvial tantalite prospect occurs in the south-east corner of the tenement. Extensive areas of prospective pegmatite occur within the project area.

The Pippingarra Lithium Tantalite Project is prospective for pegmatite hosted lithium and tantalite mineralisation similar to that discovered by Great Sandy at the Marble Bar Lithium Project. Initial targets will be undiscovered pegmatites that are the source for the alluvial tantalite at the Bore Creek prospect and the mapped pegmatites that occur straddling the regional north east structure. Initial exploration will commence following grant of both tenements.

MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING

The key terms of the MOU are:

• $30,000 has been paid to Great Sandy equally by Macarthur Minerals, through its wholly owned subsidiary, Macarthur Marble Bar Lithium Pty Ltd(“MMBL”) and SUH on signing the MOU, which is exclusive.
• MMBL and SUH will enter into a 50:50 contributing Joint Venture Agreement for purchase of 100% of the Projects (“Joint Venture”) within 60 days. The Joint Venture Agreement will be on standard industry terms and MMBL will be appointed project manager.
• The Joint Venture will enter into a Purchase Agreement for the Projects within 60 days on completion of satisfactory due diligence and obtaining regulatory approvals.
• The purchase price for the Projects by the Joint Venture is:
  • Within 60 days of entering into the Purchase Agreement, the joint venturers will each issue A$125,000 of shares in each of their respective companies, Macarthur Minerals and SUH, to Great Sandy.
  • Within 6 months of entering into the Purchase Agreement, the joint venturers will each issue A$250,000 of shares each in their respective companies, Macarthur Minerals and SUH, to Great Sandy. Following this final payment, the Joint Venture will receive 100% ownership of the Projects.
  • Great Sandy will retain a 2% gross production royalty.
  • The number of shares to be issued for the purchase price is to be calculated using a 5-day Volume Weighted Average Price for each Macarthur Minerals and SUH prior to the issue of shares.

The Purchase Agreement is subject to regulatory and TSX-V approval, if required.

Qualified Person:

Kiran Morzaria B.Eng. (ACSM), MBA, has reviewed and approved the information contained in this announcement. Kiran holds a Bachelor of Engineering (Industrial Geology) from the Camborne School of Mines and an MBA (Finance).

About Cadence Minerals:

Cadence is dedicated to smart investments for a greener world. The planet needs rechargeable batteries on a global scale – upcoming supersized passenger vehicles, lorries and buses – require lithium and other technology minerals to power their cells. Cadence is helping find these minerals in new places and extracting them in new ways, which will meet the demand of this burgeoning market. With over £40 million vested in key assets globally, Cadence is helping us reach tomorrow, today.

Cadence invests across the globe, principally in lithium mining projects. Its primary strategy is taking significant economic stakes in upstream exploration and development assets within strategic metals. We identify assets that have strategic cost advantages that are not replicable, with the aim of achieving lower quartile production costs. The combination of this approach and seeking value opportunities allows us to identify projects capable of achieving high rates of return.

The Cadence board has a blend of mining, commodity investing, fund management and deal structuring knowledge and experience, that is supported by access to key marketing, political and industry contacts. These resources are leveraged not only in our investment decisions but also in continuing support of our investments, whether it be increasing market awareness of an asset, or advising on product mix or path to production. Cadence Mineral’s goal is to assist management to rapidly develop the project up the value curve and deliver excellent returns on its investments.