The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Company to use funds for lithium exploration in NWT, Quebec North of 60 Mining News - March 22, 2023
Li-FT Power is a new junior exploration company focused on Canadian projects with hardrock deposits of lithium, which is in high demand for EVs and energy storage batteries.
Li-FT's Yellowknife Lithium properties in Northwest Territories.
Li-FT Power Ltd. March 22 announced that it has raised C$35 million (US$25.5 million) for exploration of its lithium properties in Canada, including the company's flagship Yellowknife Lithium project in Northwest Territories.
Li-FT is a new junior exploration company formed early last year to explore and develop projects for hardrock lithium, which is in high demand for the batteries powering electric vehicles.
After picking up some promising projects in Quebec, the company acquired Yellowknife, a large lithium project that covers at least 14 pegmatites – igneous rocks with exceptionally large crystals that are the major source of hardrock lithium worldwide – on mineral leases that are 30 kilometers (19 miles) northeast and 60 kilometers (37 miles) east of the NWT capital that the project is named after.
Historical channel sampling of pegmatite outcrops that are clearly visible on satellite images have produced average grades from 1.1 to 1.59% lithium oxide over widths of seven to 40 meters. These lithium-bearing pegmatites can be traced on the surface for 100 to 1,800 meters along strike.
Many of the pegmatite outcrops in the Yellowknife lithium project can be accessed by roads that extend to the NWT capital.
Earlier this year, Li-FT added to its Yellowknife land package by optioning the Thompson-Lundmark project immediately north of its Ki mineral lease, which is in the road-accessible area of the Yellowknife project, plus the north side of Thompson-Lundmark.
"The Yellowknife Lithium Project is a tremendous opportunity to consolidate numerous lithium pegmatites that have the potential to be one of the largest hard rock lithium resources in North America," said Li-FT Power CEO Francis MacDonald.
MacDonald, who is co-founder and former president of Kenorland Minerals Ltd., brings 15 years of mineral exploration experience to the Li-FT team, including nearly a decade of greenfield exploration with Newmont Corp.
He is joined by Li-FT Power President Alex Langer, an 18-year public market specialist who worked with Canaccord Genuity as an investment advisor for four years, where he helped fund over 100 companies in the technology, mining, healthcare, forestry, green technology, and other sectors.
In addition to Yellowknife, Li-FT's portfolio includes three greenfield lithium projects – Rupert, Pontax, and Moyenne – covering 2,282 square kilometers (881 square miles) in Quebec, and the Cali rare earths-lithium project near the western border of NWT.
To fund exploration of its portfolio of lithium properties, Li-FT has raised C$35 million through a flow-through financing that involved the issuance of 2.6 million shares at C$13.45 each.
Under a provision of Canada's Income Tax Act, flow-through financings allow Canadian companies to transfer expenses for mineral exploration in Canada to individual investors that purchase the flow-through shares. The flow-through investor, in turn, can apply his portion of the exploration expense to reduce or eliminate his tax liability.
The gross flow-through funds raised by Li-FT under an offering led by Canaccord Genuity Corp. will primarily be invested in its Yellowknife Lithium project and Rupert property in Quebec.
Over his more than 16 years of covering mining and mineral exploration, Shane has become renowned for his ability to report on the sector in a way that is technically sound enough to inform industry insiders while being easy to understand by a wider audience.
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