The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Assays from four pegmatites affirm project's wider potential North of 60 Mining News - September 6, 2023
A Li-FT geologist investigates one of the large outcropping pegmatites on the company's Yellowknife Lithium project.
Li-FT Power Ltd. Sept. 6 reported strong lithium results from holes drilled through four pegmatite bodies on three of the 11 properties that make up the company's Yellowknife Lithium project east of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories.
These properties cover some of the most prospective targets found within the Yellowknife Pegmatite Province, a 9,600-square-kilometer (3,700 square miles) area east of the NWT capital city, and have been divided into two groups – five properties in a road-accessible area immediately east of the NWT capital and a cluster of six properties about 50 kilometers (30 miles) further east.
Most of the 117 holes drilled by Li-FT so far this year have targeted lithium-bearing pegmatites on the road-accessible group.
This drilling began on the Fi property, which hosts two pegmatite dykes – Fi Main and Fi Southwest.
Earlier this summer, Li-FT reported assays from seven holes drilled at Fi Southwest and 16 holes drilled at Fi Main. Highlights include:
• 35 meters averaging 1.3% lithium oxide in hole YLP0001 (Fi Southwest).
• 39 meters averaging 1.43% lithium oxide in hole YLP0003 (Fi Southwest).
• 33 meters averaging 1.39% lithium oxide in hole YLP0004 (Fi Southwest).
• 79 meters averaging 1.13% lithium oxide in hole YLP0005 (Fi Southwest).
• 60 meters averaging 1.26% lithium oxide in hole YLP00007 (Fi Southwest).
• 26 meters averaging 1.22% lithium oxide in hole YLP0011 (Fi Main).
• 30 meters averaging 1.13% lithium oxide in hole YLP0017 (Fi Main).
• 30 meters averaging 1.1% lithium oxide in hole YLP0023 (Fi Main).
The latest batch of assays is from 12 holes drilled at the Fi Southwest, Fi Main, Shorty, and BIG East pegmatites. Highlights include:
• 24 meters averaging 1.12% lithium oxide in hole YLP0024 (Fi Main).
• 22 meters averaging 1.46% lithium oxide in hole YLP0031 (Fi Southwest).
• 25 meters averaging 1.13% lithium oxide in hole YLP0033 (Shorty).
• 16 meters averaging 1.13% lithium oxide in hole YLP0035 (BIG East).
"We are excited to showcase high-grade spodumene over significant widths at each of the first four pegmatites which have been drilled thus far," said Li-FT Power CEO Francis MacDonald. "With 35 holes now reported we have 82 holes still to report, including holes from two further pegmatites, Echo and Ki."
Though Li-FT was off to a strong start to its inaugural season of drilling at Yellowknife, both in terms of meterage and assays, the company was forced to shut down operations in mid-August due to the wildfires that forced the evacuation of NWT's capital.
While waiting for the smoke to clear so that it could resume its 45,000-meter drill program at Yellowknife, Li-FT shifted gears and began carrying out initial exploration at Cali, an earlier-staged project near the Yukon border in western NWT.
With the intensity and threat of Yellowknife area wildfires subsiding and the evacuation order for the territorial capital lifted, Li-FT will likely be able to resume drilling Yellowknife Lithium targets soon.
"In the recent days the City of Yellowknife, the Yellowknives Dene First Nation, and the Government of the Northwest Territories have announced a re-entry plan for residents of Yellowknife, Ndilǫ, and Dettah who have been evacuated due to wildfires," said MacDonald. "We would like to commend the workers and volunteers who have done a tremendous job to secure Yellowknife, Ndilǫ, and Dettah."
"We look forward giving a further update on operations once staff have been mobilized back to the project and drilling has commenced again," the Li-FT CEO added.
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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