Metals & Minerals News

Cornish Lithium finds new mineral zone at United Downs

Cornish Lithium has found a new zone of lithium in its first drillhole at United Downs within the historic copper and tin mining district of central Cornwall.

Exploration: Cornish Lithium carried out extensive research before starting the drill programme in United Downs (Cornish Lithium)

STRUCTURES

The company discovered more structures than expected after drilling down farther than the planned 800m to 1.1km.

Founder and chief executive Jeremy Wrathall, who aims to build a lithium extraction plant on the site, said that the company was in talks with potentially commercial partners.

United Downs covers or is near four former copper and tin mines of Consolidated Mines and United Mines to the west; and Mount Wellington and Wheal Jane Mines to the east.

Mineralisation exploited historically is related to either quartz veins or quartz-tourmaline veins hosted within “killas”, the local name for metasedimentary rocks that overlie granite intrusions.

United Downs’ mining rights are owned by Canadian company Strongbow Exploration which also owns South Crofty mine in Redruth.

Cornish Lithium has the mineral rights for lithium-in-brine occurrences, while Strongbow retains the rights to any hard rock mineralisation.