Arkle Resources PLC on Thursday said it has discovered pegmatites at its licence on the border of Wexford and Wicklow in Ireland, making progress in its search for lithium.

Arkle Resources is a Dublin-based diversified exploration company, with principal assets in gold and zinc exploration licences across Ireland. Mine River is one of Arkle’s two fully-owned gold projects in the country. Located at the border of County Wexford and County Wicklow respectively, the block comprises five prospecting licences with a total area of approximately 213.5 square-kilometres.

To date, the company has identified a 15-kilometre-long target at the licence. Following the news, Arkle shares jumped 41% to 0.67 pence each in London on Thursday afternoon.

The purpose of recent reconnaissance work at Mine River was to establish the presence of granite and pegmatite rock, and to collect specimens for analysis.

The block is close to the known lithium-bearing Leinster Granite Pegmatite Belt, which Arkle argued makes it a prime candidate for the exploration of lithium-bearing pegmatites.

On Thursday, Arkle confirmed the presence of all three rock types at the site: granite, pegmatite and aplite. It added that a large body of the Leinster Granite was located in an outcrop at in the north of the licence block, with other smaller bodies found extending southwest to Bunclody.

Out of the five target areas investigated, four were found to have pegmatite and aplite rock boulders.

Rock chip samples were collected and will now be analysed for common indicator minerals associated with lithium.

‘This is a positive development for the Mine River Project. We have found some compelling indications that lithium bearing pegmatites may be present within the block. While our focus to date has been on gold it is long known that indications of lithium were present,’ said Chair John Teeling.

‘The successful discoveries on licences close to our ground and the massive demand for lithium to drive the electric vehicle revolution led to this review. It is early days but positive news.’

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