The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
First holes confirm depth extension of Fi Southwest pegmatite North of 60 Mining News - June 14, 2023
Rig drills hole YLP0003, which cut 39 meters of spodumene-bearing pegmatite from a depth of 55 meters at Fi Southwest.
Closeup photo of hole YLP0004 shows the style of spodumene mineralization within the Fi Southwest pegmatite dyke.
Cross-section of holes YLP0002 and YLP0003 showing intersects of spodumene-bearing pegmatite against LIFT's initial targeting model for the Fi Southwest pegmatite.
Cross-section of holes YLP0006 showing the intersect of spodumene-bearing pegmatite against LIFT's initial targeting model for the Fi Southwest pegmatite.
Li-FT Power Ltd. June 14 reported that the first six holes of its 2023 program at the Yellowknife Lithium project in Northwest Territories have all cut spodumene-bearing pegmatite at Fi Southwest, one of seven pegmatite dykes on the docket to be tested with a 45,000-meter drill program planned for this year.
Li-FT's 141,572-hectare (349,832 acres) Yellowknife Lithium project consists of 11 properties covering some of the most prospective lithium targets found within the Yellowknife Pegmatite Province, a 9,600-square-kilometer (3,700 square miles) area that extends 120 kilometers (75 miles) east of NWT's capital city.
This year's drill program is focused on building an initial resource to a depth of roughly 300 meters at large outcropping pegmatites – igneous rocks with exceptionally large crystals that are the major global source of the lithium mineral spodumene – on a group of five properties in a road-accessible area a few miles east of Yellowknife.
Further details of the planned 2023 Yellowknife Lithium drill program and the seven pegmatite dykes being targeted can be read at Li-FT launches drilling at Yellowknife in the June 9, 2023 edition of North of 60 Mining News.
The drill program began at Fi Southwest, one of two primary pegmatite dykes on the Fi property about 45 kilometers (28 miles) northeast of Yellowknife.
Fi Southwest, the shorter and wider of the two dykes, can be traced on surface for about 1,100 meters and averages about 21 meters thick on surface. A 540-meter-long central segment contains 5-30% spodumene, based on fourteen trenches dug across the dyke in the 1970s.
The first six holes show that the width of the dyke and spodumene content remains similar to a depth of more than 150 meters.
Intercepts from the first six holes include:
• 36 meters of spodumene-bearing pegmatite from a depth of 73 meters in hole YLP0001.
• 34 meters of spodumene-bearing pegmatite from a depth of 180 meters in hole YLP0002.
• 39 meters of spodumene-bearing pegmatite from a depth of 55 meters in hole YLP0003.
• 33 meters of spodumene-bearing pegmatite from a depth of 88 meters in hole YLP0004.
• 79 meters of spodumene-bearing pegmatite from a depth of 131 meters in hole YLP0005.
• 80 meters of spodumene-bearing pegmatite from a depth of 45 meters in hole YLP0006.
The wider widths in holes five and six are due to the oblique angle of the intercept due to the location of the drill to avoid a high-potential archeological area to be surveyed in July.
Overall, these first six holes at Fi Southwest have intersected widths of spodumene-bearing pegmatite similar to what has been seen on surface.
"We are pleased that, to date, the historic results produced by previous operators have been confirmed by our drilling at Fi Southwest," said Li-FT Power CEO Francis MacDonald. "The presence of spodumene within the Fi Southwest dyke over drill intersects of 33 to 80 meters suggests that the historic work was accurate and that the lithium pegmatite dykes have similar widths at depth to outcrops on surface. We look forward to initial assay results and continued diamond drilling that will extend the known pegmatite occurrences to depth."
Core from the first two Yellowknife Lithium holes have been sent to the assay lab for analysis.
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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