JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Aim-listed Kodal Minerals plans to continue reverse circulation drilling on its Mali-based Bougouni lithium project until the start of the rainy season in June/July.

"We are continuing with the major exploration and definition programme at Bougouni, with multiple key activities happening in parallel as we look to fast-track our project towards a decision to mine in as short a timeframe as practicable,” CEO Bernard Aylward said in a statement issued on Thursday.

He added that the drilling is focused on infill and definition at the Ngoualana and Sogola-Baoule prospects.

"Alongside this drilling campaign, we are also progressing our bulk sample work and a contract mining firm will be mobilising to site shortly. 

The bulk sample will provide us with critical information regarding the mining and processing characteristics of our mineralisation and the metallurgy will provide us with key information on the quality of the product as well as specific information to be included in potential processing plant design," he noted.  

The 5 000 t bulk sample will be extracted from the Ngoualana prospect where outcropping and near-surface mineralisation will be mined.   

Metallurgical testwork is continuing in Australia and China to test selected intervals of the diamond core from the Ngoualana prospect and will review the crushing parameters and recovery results of the spodumene minerals from the dense media separation and flotation systems.

The metallurgical testwork will provide a flow sheet of the proposed processing path and potential recovery of the product from processing. 

The company has been working towards developing a mining operation at Bougouni with the aim of producing a spodumene concentrate product for sale and this metallurgical testwork will be important in assisting the design and development of a processing plant suitable for the Bougouni pegmatite-hosted mineralisation.