Recent resampling of historical drill core reveals grades up to 34.9% graphite.

StrategX Elements Corp. March 21 announced the potential expansion of its Nagvaak critical minerals project in Nunavut, Canada, as one interval drilled roughly 4,000 meters from the initial discovery drill hole returned significant high-grade graphite – much higher than typically observed in other graphite deposits in North America.

Featuring a 6,000- by 400-meter zone of strong vanadium, nickel, copper, cobalt, molybdenum, zinc, silver, platinum group elements, and gold mineralization, Nagvaak holds a rich melting pot of resources along with the key ingredient in an electrified future – graphite, which was identified mid last year.

Since its discovery in the 1970s, mining and mineral exploration companies have conducted numerous surveys on the project that have identified several strong electromagnetic conductive zones. These correlate with areas where these critical and precious metals have been found on the surface.

Noticing that follow-up drilling done by BHP in the 1990s showed critical energy metals continued at depth, StrategX has been reviewing the historical core and comparing it with present exploration to delineate the full scope of this unique property.

StrategX Elements Corp.

Nagvaak target map showing location of historical holes drilled by BHP.

Continuing its sampling program of historical core, its most recent sample drill hole – DDH#17 – is located about 4,000 meters east of the first drill core results that led to the discovery of graphite at Nagvaak – DDH#14 – which returned 16 meters averaging 12.2% graphite from a depth of 46 meters.

Hole DDH#14, historically known as NAG96-14, was not previously sampled for graphite but did return 58 meters averaging 2.63% copper-equivalent.

Through its reassessment of Nagvaak, StrategX has relogged and resampled historical BHP drill core; highlights from the re-assaying include:

• 58 meters averaging 0.51% vanadium, 0.25% nickel, 0.06% molybdenum, 0.17% copper, 0.38% zinc, 8.72 grams per metric ton silver, and 0.11 g/t platinum group metals from a depth of 27.2 meters in BHP hole 14.

• 35.7 meters averaging 0.36% vanadium, 0.29% nickel, 0.04% molybdenum, 0.15% copper, 0.73% zinc, 8.26 g/t silver, and 0.13 g/t PGMs from a depth of 52.4 meters in BHP hole one.

• 38.4 meters averaging 0.37% vanadium, 0.21% nickel, 0.04% molybdenum, 0.12% copper, 0.69% zinc, 6.12 g/t silver, and 0.11 g/t PGMs from a depth of 46.7 meters in BHP hole two.

Holes one and two are located about 2,300 meters west of hole 14 and are all within a 6,000-meter-long trend identified with drilling, sampling, and geophysics.

Moving further east, DDH#17 returned 45.6 meters averaging 0.41% vanadium, 0.26% nickel, 0.14% copper, 0.035% molybdenum, 8.3 g/t silver, 0.1 g/t gold and PGEs, and 0.36% zinc.

However, high-quality graphite was found from 15.4 meters to 41 meters with grades reaching up to 34.9% graphite, with a significant portion of the samples averaging over 20% graphite.

These results give confidence to StrategX for the potential of a large tonnage exceeding more than 100 metric tons in both critical metals and graphite.

With graphite grades matching those seen in the top 10 in the world, the company will continue to explore the scope and scale of this highly prospective multi-material project in Nunavut.