It has joined a select club of companies by announcing one of just over a dozen lithium resources in Australia with an initial 481,000 tonnes grading 0.59% in the southern starter pit area, based on a 0.3% economic cut-off.

 

Within the deposit are a high grade core of 106,000t at 0.87% defined at a 0.80% cut-off, and an indicated 106,000t at 0.65%.

 

The Faraday outcrop extends 300m to the north and a further outcrop to the west has also been mapped.

 

The deposit is unconstrained, and limited only by drilling to date along strike and to depths of 65m

 

Widgie has been fast-tracking work streams and its metallurgical test work confirms the ore can be upgraded to a saleable concentrate grading 5.5% spodumene.

 

It has already started designing a low-cost DSO starter pit that is expected to require minimal stripping.

 

The junior expects to be production ready in the December half.

 

While it's true its timing could have been better, with the price of the critical battery input plunging by around 20% since January, confounding many analysts who predicted costs would stay high, demand is still expected to climb in the coming years, meaning Widgie's work won't be wasted.

 

And, as markets have witnessed, lithium prices can rise and fall very quickly.

 

Widgie has only been in the lithium space since announcing its field team had found a 600m-long spodumene-bearing pegmatite outcrop with grades up to 3.7% lithium last October.

 

It quickly put a rig on it to confirm the potential with assays such as 18m at 0.72% from 12m, including 2m at 1.76%.

 

Those numbers, and the shallow profile, and a location on a mining lease in the heart of Western Australia's mining country, and a key lithium producing region, have attracted potential off takers and industry participants.

 

Managing director Steve Norregaard said Widgie expected to provide more details before mid-year.

 

It has commenced an "aggressive" drilling program to upgrade and expand the resource.

 

Of course, lithium-ion batteries use plenty of nickel, which continues to be a key focus for Widgie at Mt Edward, where it has 170,000t in resources, and is also hoping to be development ready this year.

 

Widgie shares have traded at 22-67c over the past year, and last traded at 29.5c capitalising it at about $74 million.