Castle Managing Director, Stephen Stone commented that 'We are very pleased to have applied for open ground at Woodcutters in the renowned 'Western Australian lithium corridor' which is also host to the Mt Marion and Bald Hill deposits.'
'The two applications, totalling 242km2 , lie 25km southeast of the Bald Hill lithiumtantalum mine and encompass some 10km of the same prospective belt where GSWA mapping has confirmed the presence of numerous pegmatites but where it did not specifically sample for lithium.' 'What is encouraging is there are elevated levels of lithium recorded in multi-element geochemical data obtained from regolith sampling during exploration for gold in 2011'
'Woodcutters increases Castle's exposure to the growing Battery Metals sector which also includes its Wilgee Springs lithium application north of the Tier-1 Greenbushes lithium mine and the Kambale graphite project in Ghana.'
Explorer and project incubator, Castle Minerals Limited (ASX: CDT) ('Castle', the 'Company'), advises that it has applied for two exploration licences prospective for lithium-bearing pegmatites ('Woodcutters Project') along trend from and in the same pegmatite field that hosts the Bald Hill lithium-tantalum deposit1, 25km to the northwest and the Liontown Resources Limited (ASX: LTR) owned Buldania lithium deposit2, 25km to the southwest.
The Woodcutters Project is also immediately north of the Picasso lithium project where owner, Castillo Copper Limited (ASX: CCZ)3, has reported a high density of GSWA mapped pegmatites to the east of its licence, with these appearing to extend into Castle's tenure.
As well as the Bald Hill mine, the Buldania lithium deposit and the Castillo exploration project, Woodcutters also joins the Mineral Resources Limited (ASX: MIN) owned Mt. Marion operating mine4 in what is broadly termed the 'Western Australia Lithium Corridor'.
The two applications, for a combined area of 242km2 (ELA15/1846 and ELA15/1847), encompass some 10km of the prospective pegmatite trend. This area has been mapped by GSWA5,8 which, whilst recording the pegmatites, did not specifically explore for or sample them for lithium. A gold focussed historical soil/auger program by Anglo Gold Limited6,7 that concentrated on sampling the pedogenic carbonate horizon covered part of the Project area. Sample assaying used a partial aqua regia digestion method, with lithium being assayed for as part of a multi-element suite. Whilst this technique is not optimum for lithium exploration, some elevated lithium values were returned over areas of the Project under moderate regolith cover.
Castle is assessing this data to determine if it can be used as part of its targeting strategy. Castle will shortly undertake a field orientation and reconnaissance site visit as a precursor to a proposed program (subject to grant of the licences) of mapping and rock chip sampling of outcropping pegmatites. It will also seek to validate the previous soil program with infill sampling. If warranted, an aircore drill program over areas of colluvium with anomalous lithium will be undertaken to test for the occurrence of pegmatites below the cover. If the results of surface and/or subsurface sampling indicates the presence of lithium in the form of spodumene, then an intensive RC drilling program would be the most likely next stage to determine the full extent of mineralisation. The Bald Hill lithium and tantalum hard rock mine is owned 100% by Alita Resources Limited (in administration).
It was commissioned in March 2018 on the basis of a Mineral Resource of 26.5Mt grading 1.0% Li20 and 149ppm Ta2O5 Mineral Resource. Ore Reserves stood at 11.3Mt grading 1.0% Li2O and 160ppm Ta2O5. The ore is known for its low mica and iron contents and a material tantalum by-product production. The mine is presently on care-and-maintenance
Contact:
Stephen Stone
Tel: +61 (0)418 804 564
Email: stone@castleminerals.com
About Castle Minerals Limited
Castle Minerals is an Australian Securities Exchange (ASX: CDT) listed and Perth, Western Australia headquartered company with interests in several projects in Western Australia and Ghana that are prospective for gold, base metals and battery metals.
The Earaheedy Basin project comprises one granted exploration licence and applications for six exploration licences encompassing terrane prospective for base and precious metals in the Earaheedy and Yerrida basins base metals provinces. The project comprises the Withnell, Terra Rossa and Tableland sub-projects. The Withnell application is adjacent to the evolving Chinook-Magazine zinclead project of Rumble Resources Ltd (ASX: RTR). The four Terra Rossa applications are immediately east of the Thaduna copper deposit. The Beasley Creek project lies on the northern flanks of the Rocklea Dome in the southern Pilbara. The strategy is to define orogenic-style, structurally controlled gold targets within the various Archean sequences. These lie immediately above and below the 16km east-west striking conglomerate horizons which had been the initial focus of exploration by Castle. The sheared granite - greenstone contact and the 'Paulsen Gold Mine' type setting within the gabbro/dolerite units that intrude the Hardey Sandstone in the northern part of the project area, are of particular interest
The Success Dome project is a recent application for an exploration licence in the Ashburton structural corridor and is located midway between the Paulsen's and Ashburton gold deposits. It is prospective for gold and base metals. Major thrust faults and sub-parallel shear zones highlighted in the regional magnetic and gravity data, combined with additional detailed geophysics data from previous explorers, brought this available area to Castle's attention. The Polelle project (E51/1843, 162.5km2), 25km south of Meekatharra and 7km southeast of the operating Bluebird Mine, hosts a mainly obscured and minimally explored greenstone belt. The belt is comprised of a combination of prospective lithological units and major structural features including the Albury Heath shear which hosts the Albury Heath deposit (Inferred Resource of 528,000t at 2.09g/t Au for 35,479oz Au) immediately adjacent to the east boundary of Castle's licence. Aeromagnetic surveys have indicated that the southwest trending Albury Heath shear and a splay structure are traceable onto the Polelle project area for some 12km. At the Wanganui project (E51/1703, 18.4km2 ), 33km south-west of the active Meekatharra mining centre and 15km south-west of the operating Bluebird gold mine, the opportunity is to test for downplunge and along strike extensions to the existing Main Lode North and South deposits, as well as for other similar targets. The Main Lode mineralisation, which can be intermittently traced for at least 1km, is one of at least four structurally related mineralised zones.
The Wilgee Springs project (ELA70/5880, 120km2 ), along strike from and within the same metamorphic belt as the World-Class Greenbushes lithium mine, 25km to the south in Western Australia's South-Western region, provides an opportunity to explore, using the latest geochemical and geophysical techniques, for spodumene bearing pegmatites beneath a lateritic cover that has previously hampered exploration. The Woodcutters project comprises two exploration licence applications (ELA15/1847/1847, 242km2) prospective for lithium bearing pegmatites 25km southeast of the Bald Hill lithium mine in the Bald Hill pegmatite field region and 25km northwest of the Buldania lithium deposit
In Ghana, West Africa, Castle has a substantial and contiguous tenure position in the country's Upper West region. Ghana has a long history of gold exploration and mining with several worldclass gold mining operations owned by Tier 1 mining companies. Castle's Ghana licence holdings encompass large tracts of highly prospective Birimian geological terrane, the host to many of West Africa's and Ghana's multimillion-ounce gold mines. The project area is also host to the open-ended Kambale graphite project for which test work on near-surface samples produced a 96.4% total carbon fine flake graphite concentrate. Castle retains a 4% net smelter precious metal royalty over the adjacent Julie West licence, a key component of Azumah Resources Limited's Wa Gold Project.
Cautionary Statement
All of Castle's projects in Australia are considered to be of grass roots or of relatively early-stage exploration status. There has been insufficient exploration to define a Mineral Resource. No Competent Person has done sufficient work in accordance with JORC Code 2012 to conclusively determine or to estimate in what quantities gold or other minerals are present. It is possible that following further evaluation and/or exploration work that the confidence in the information used to identify areas of interest may be reduced when reported under JORC Code 2012. The Kambale graphite deposit is at an early stage in its evaluation with little known about how extensive the deposit is or how the graphite quality varies within it. Work to date has been undertaken on an easily accessible area which may or may not be representative of the broader deposit once that is known. To date, the area investigated at Kambale has produced from weathered samples a fine flake size concentrate of a potentially commercially acceptable grade at a reasonably high recovery. Definitive test work on fresh material and material from other parts of the deposit has yet to be undertaken
Forward Looking Statement
Statements regarding Castle's plans, forecasts and projections with respect to its mineral properties and programs are forward-looking statements. There can be no assurance that Castle's plans for development of its mineral properties will proceed. There can be no assurance that Castle will be able to confirm the presence of Mineral Resources or Ore Reserves, that any mineralisation will prove to be economic or that a mine will be successfully developed on any of Castle's mineral properties. The performance of Castle may be influenced by a number of factors which are outside the control of the Company, its Directors, staff or contractors.
CASTLE MINERALS LIMITED 
