In a rock chip and soil sampling program at its Tango lithium and Barbara projects in Canada, lately revamped Bayan Mining and Minerals (ASX: BMM) has pointed out high-value gallium potential in assay.
Bayan made an announcement last week that it had received assent for modifying company’s name from Balkan Mining and Minerals.
The company has officially modified the name with recent field work delivering remarkable evaluations, highlighting advanced values of both gallium and lithium to further exhibit the phenomenal potential of these projects.
Canadian Portfolio
As per the statement of executive director Fadi Diab, “These outstanding gallium and lithium assay results from our Tango project underscore the potential of our Canadian portfolio to contribute to the global demand for critical minerals. The recent developments surrounding China’s export ban on gallium have highlighted the importance of securing alternative sources for this indispensable material.”
Mr Diab stated that the new assay outcome emphasized increased levels of gallium and lithium oxide in several samples, where gallium oxide grades range up to 72.32 grams per tonne, with certain samples presenting concentrations above 50g/t.
The grades of Lithium oxide were also note worthy, with the highest value recorded at 6.85% and multiple samples beyond 3%.
Mineralisation Potential
Additionally, Mr Diab stated that the results supplied further insights into the mineralisation potential of spodumene-bearing pegmatites within the project areas, with coinciding elevated gallium and lithium values proposing potential for a dual mineralisation system.
Particularly, the results have demonstrated a constant presence of gallium and lithium throughout the sampled area.
Later analysis will concentrate on describing the spatial distribution of gallium and lithium across these areas to navigate through the next phase of exploration.
Work Plans for the Future
In order to filter exploration strategies and prioritise targets for future work Bayan will now utilise the information.
The evaluation targets to depict the principal zones of enrichment and potential areas for further exploration.
Lately the company is assessing and analysing all accessible historical exploration results in order to better acknowledge the existance and distribution of gallium and lithium across its sizeable portfolio of highly prospective Ontario projects.
The Gorge, Tango, Arrel and Barbara exploration projects are among its major assets covering 120 square kilometres in the Thunder Bay North mining district.
Significance of Gallium
Gallium is considered vital in modern technology due to its unique properties especially in the manufacturing of semiconductors and optoelectronic devices.
Gallium-based compounds are crucial for cutting-edge technologies including advanced communications, power amplifiers and next-generation solar panels.
The US and Canada depend on gallium for major industries like defence, telecommunications and renewable energy and its applications in semiconductors and advanced circuitry are essential for technologies such as generative artificial intelligence, radar systems and photovoltaics.
As gallium-based chips initiated to surpass those using silicon, safeguarding a stable supply of the element which is necessary for sustaining technological leadership and innovation.
