Kene

The Kene LCT pegmatites were discovered in 1974 during the tantalum prospect rush by Soviet geologists and described as the Kenebai–Saryozek field of rare element pegmatites representing the low eroded supra-zone of rare element mineralization open to the depth, with significant lithium resources and low tantalum prospective.
Geologically, the Kene LCT pegmatites are primarily associated with the endo-contact of Zhaman–Tortkara porphyritic biotite granites and sedimentary-metamorphic rocks (schists) of the Takyr Formation (D3-C1). The Kene pegmatites extend in the NW direction up to 6 km with thickness varying from 500m to 750m on the surface. There are several hundred outcropped pegmatite veins (spodumene-bearing) with thicknesses of up to 10m and lithium grade up to Li₂O@2.8% (Averin, 1973) on the surface and up to Li₂O@2.2% at 100m depth (drillhole DR-1 Dalares, 2023).
The Kene Central lithium-bearing zone is dominated by spodumene (up to 80% of spodumene in veins, Muratshin, 1978) of two types: (i) fine-grained white or light gray crystals from 1.0 cm to 2.0 cm in length; and (ii) coarse-grained cream or light green crystals from 10.0 cm to 20.0 cm in length.

Kene pegmatite rock-forming minerals (ref. Muratshin, 1978)

Geochemical specifications
In 2024 Dalares conducted a geochemical survey with 200m x 40m sampling grid resulting in a Ta-Cs-Sn-Li-Rb-Be-Tl-Nb-Ga-Bi geochemical signature for Kene pegmatites with dimensions of 5,500m in length and 200-250m in width. The following four (4) anomalies have been identified:

2022-2024 Drilling Program
The data collected during the 2022-2024 exploration program have defined an uncovered (by drilling) lithium mineralization zone up to 50m in thickness, including not only numerous contiguous pegmatite veins but also pegmatite-bearing granites that significantly differ from historical interpretations and sampling data.

The results of geological modelling of historical and new data have shown that the continuous extension zone conforming to the distribution of spodumene pegmatites reaches ca.3.5km.
 

Drillhole DRK-1 and DRK-2 cross sections
 

Potential of the discovery
The recent in-depth study of Kene pegmatites (initially assessed and described by Soviet geologists in 1956-1978 as Kenebai-Saryozek pegmatite field) concluded the following:

1. The Kene pegmatites represent a solid (unified) continuous rear-element pegmatitic zone elongated in the NS direction for 5,700m, spanning an area of 1,700,000 m². Spodumene pegmatites are distributed along the entire Kene’s pegmatite extension zone (5.7km) spanning an area of ca. 600,000m².
2. The Kene LCT pegmatites are slightly eroded supra–ore zone open to the depth, which have a distinguished lateral zonation transiting from primarily spodumene pegmatites into albite and microcline pegmatites in the eastern direction.
3. The Kene spodumene pegmatites consist of multiple veins with thickness ranging from 0.2m to 3.5m. Along with the veins (hosted in granites) they form a solid high lithium concentration zone reaching up to 80m in thickness (Averin, 1973), and up to 45m at depths between 30m and 120m based on the 2022–2024 drilling data. The historical records (Muratshin, 1978) also indicate that a spodumene vein cluster transfer into a large-size feeder spodumene dyke at depths of 200–220m.
4. According to the new drilling data, a lithium mineralization represents a spodumene deposit at shallow depths between 30m and 120m, going down to 300m and deeper as evidenced by historical data.
5. Li₂O resources have been estimated at 490,000 tonnes based on a standard methodology.

The Li₂O resource estimation is very conservative and has been made based on available information. The estimation does not account for the continuity of the lithium mineralization zone extending for nearly 6,000m from Kene South to Kene North, nor does it consider the historical discovery of a lithium feeder dyke at the depth of 250-300m.