Kali Metals (ASX:KM1) has strengthened both ends of its exploration story, securing up to A$700,000 of partner-funded work across its Southern Lachlan portfolio while reporting fresh high-grade gold from Marble Bar in WA.
JX picks up the exploration bill
Kali yesterday signed a binding MOU with Japanese metals and refining group JX Advanced Metals over its Southern Lachlan Fold Belt assets in Victoria and NSW.
Under the agreement, JX will fund up to A$700,000 of exploration through to 31 March 2027, while Kali remains operator and manages the work.
The ground covers around 1,413km² and is prospective for lithium-caesium-tantalum pegmatites, tin and tungsten.
If the initial phase stacks up, JX has the option to negotiate a formal farm-in or joint venture.
For Kali, that means advancing a large package without carrying the full exploration cost.
Figure 1: Marble Bar project location.
Marble Bar keeps adding grade
At the same time, final Phase II assays from the Marble Bar Gold Project recently delivered more high-grade gold.
Diamond drilling returned:
- 2.6m @ 10.8g/t Au from 8.7m
- 1.8m @ 7.4g/t Au from surface
Those results add to earlier RC hits including 3m @ 3.6g/t Au and 5m @ 1.0g/t Au.
The broader system has now been defined over around 3km of cumulative strike.
Still shallow
One of the more interesting parts of Marble Bar is depth.
The four main prospects, Sherman, Tiger, Tiger 2 and Churchill, have only been followed to ~50m vertical depth.
That leaves Kali with plenty of room to test whether the mineralisation continues below the shallow system already mapped and drilled.
Figure 2: Southern Lachlan Fold Belt – Kali’s Tallangatta (VIC) and Jingellic (NSW) Projects.
Stug moves up the list
The company is also turning its attention to recently discovered prospects, particularly Stug.
Stug has a mapped quartz vein strike of around 250m, widths of 5m to 30m at surface and rock-chip grades ranging from 3.9g/t to 53.1g/t Au.
Follow-up drilling is now being designed across the newly identified prospects.
What comes next
Over the next six months, Kali plans to keep expanding Marble Bar through mapping, rock-chip sampling, hyperspectral work and further RC drilling.
A Mineral Resource estimate and Mining Licence application also sit on the forward work program, subject to exploration success.
Meanwhile, JX-funded work gives Kali another shot at building value across the Southern Lachlan package without footing the full bill itself.
That leaves Kali with two very different catalysts.
Partner-funded exploration in the east, and a gold system in the west that still looks shallow, open and unfinished.
