North Arrow confirms LDG hard rock lithium

North Arrow Minerals Inc. Aug. 10 announced an exciting update to its field program at its Lac de Gras kimberlite property in Canada's Northwest Territories, confirming at least four spodumene pegmatites and establishing the diamond exploration project as an official lithium exploration project.

"In a very short period of time, North Arrow has confirmed a new spodumene pegmatite field within our 100% owned LDG project in Northwest Territories," said North Arrow Minerals President and CEO Ken Armstrong.

After obtaining 100% interest in Lac de Gras from previous joint venture partner Arctic Canadian Diamond Company at the end of June, North Arrow wasted no time setting out for minerals. However, even with it being nestled between two of the world's richest diamond mines, Diavik and Ekati, the company hoped for a more in-demand resource – lithium.

Located within the Lac de Gras kimberlite field, the namesake project consists of 149,621 hectares (369,722 acres) of highly prospective diamondiferous kimberlites.

While work has outlined two significant kimberlite targets – Big Blue and Anchor – the most recent exploration program at Lac de Gras was on the hunt for a series of spodumene pegmatites that were initially reported by Geological Survey of Canada mappers in the 1940s with follow-up work by Geolex Exploration in the 1950s.

Back then, Geolex reportedly identified a series of spodumene pegmatites in the area, including one occurrence described as approximately 600 meters in length and up to 30 meters wide, while a second occurrence was detailed as roughly 1,000 meters long and averaged 15 meters in width.

Now, with spodumene officially re-confirmed, the company has shifted its focus from the DeStaffany lithium project, which was slated to begin early this month, to Lac de Gras. Any further exploration at DeStaffany has been pushed to 2024, and a 2,000-meter delineation drilling and sampling program has been slated for LDG to give perspective and scope to this exciting new hard rock lithium development.

"Based on the size potential of these pegmatites, their location immediately adjacent to transportation infrastructure provided by the Lac de Gras winter road, and the fact that an exploration camp and drilling permit are already in place, we have refocused our 2023 drilling plans to test these discoveries starting in late August," said Armstrong. "The program is intended to rapidly evaluate the pegmatites through approximately 2,000 meters of delineation drilling and sampling, which will provide clarity of their full size and mineralization potential."