North of 60 Mining News - The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North

Lured partly by proximity to infrastructure in Yellowknife, several companies moved in January to advance exploration in mineral-rich Northwest Territories.

The explorers include seasoned diamond and now rare earths hunter North Arrow Minerals Inc., NWT newcomer Gama Explorations Inc., and ambitious junior Gold Terra Resource Corp.

North Arrow Jan. 30 reported acquiring a 100% ownership interest in the DeStaffany lithium property from NWT project generator Parnac Resources Ltd. The 1,843-hectare (4,554 acres) parcel, part of the Yellowknife Pegmatite Province, is located 18 kilometers (11 miles) northeast of the Nechalacho rare earths mine and 115 kilometers (71 miles) east of the capital city.

"Acquisition of the DeStaffany lithium project is part of a larger opportunity to take advantage of North Arrow's deep exploration experience in the NWT and Nunavut, including past evaluation of lithium, tantalum and rare earth elements mineralization at a number of localities in both territories," said North Arrow President and CEO Ken Armstrong in announcing the move.

"In fact, the DeStaffany area was the subject of tantalum and nickel exploration work by a predecessor company to North Arrow from 1998 to 2002, and North Arrow Chairman Gren Thomas was responsible for the discovery of niobium, tantalum and (REE) mineralization in the nearby Blatchford Lake Complex in the 1970s, home to the newly opened Nechalacho mine, Canada's first producer of rare earth elements," Armstrong added.

Lithium spurs activity

The DeStaffany property hosts the Moose 1 and Moose 2 lithium-tantalum-niobium-bearing pegmatites. The pegmatites were initially evaluated in the 1940s for tantalum and niobium but have never been subject to a focused evaluation of their lithium potential.

New discoveries are possible within the property, as highlighted by the identification of additional pegmatites by a predecessor company to North Arrow. At the time, these pegmatites were not described or evaluated for their lithium potential.

The Moose 1 pegmatite has never been drilled but has been traced over a 370-meter strike, averaging 4.5 to six meters in width, with a maximum width of about 11 meters, and hosts spodumene mineralization that returned 1.5% lithium oxide over 7.5 meters from channel sampling in 2009. Additional historic surface samples have returned from background values to 4.1% Li2O.

The Moose 2 pegmatite has been mapped over a 450-meter strike length, and is up to 30 meters wide. The pegmatite was bulk sampled and test mined for its tantalum and niobium potential in the 1940s and 1950s, producing tantalum, niobium, and lithium concentrates but has never been evaluated or drilled solely for its lithium potential.

Spodumene mineralization is common throughout the pegmatite, with elevated lithium analyses of up to 2.73% lithium oxide returned from samples along at least a 250 meters strike length of the body.

The Moose pegmatites are located within one kilometer (0.62 miles) of Great Slave Lake, providing good year-round access to the property from both Yellowknife and Hay River on the south side of the lake. North Arrow said the next steps for the property will include preparation for mapping, sampling, and prospecting fieldwork ahead of initial drill testing of these mineralized spodumene pegmatites.

Junior chases lithium

Gama Explorations Inc., which is exploring a copper-molybdenum project in northern British Columbia and a nickel-copper project in Quebec, Jan. 16 reported signing a binding letter of intent with Panarc for an option to acquire a 100% interest in the Muskox lithium property in the Yellowknife Pegmatite Province about 40 kilometers (25 miles) east of Yellowknife.

This project also happens to lie along a government-maintained, all-season road that runs along the entire southern border of the claims.

The junior said 2022 channel sampling from the CM-1 pegmatite produced average grades of 1.34% Li2O over five meters and 1.26% Li2O over 11 meters. The junior also said a sizable portion of the 50-square-kilometer Muskox project area remains under-explored and the potential to identify additional lithium-bearing pegmatites remains high.

"The Muskox Property represents a new pillar for our 2023 exploration program, diversifying and growing our asset base with projects now focused on lithium, nickel and copper," said Gama Explorations CEO Mick Carew.

"The Yellowknife Pegmatite Province is a highly prospective and sought-after jurisdiction for lithium deposits, making the (Muskox) property a significant addition to our portfolio. This represents a tremendous value-creation opportunity for shareholders, being in a top global mining jurisdiction with an established endowment of hard rock lithium. We look forward to building upon the historic work done on this asset and creating value through further exploration and delineation of its potential," he added.

Spodumene-bearing pegmatites within the Muskox pegmatite lithium project area were documented as early as the mid-1950s, including the discovery and initial sampling of the CM-1 pegmatite. Early exploration work included mapping and sampling along the CM-1 pegmatite, and bulk sampling from blast sites at several spodumene-bearing pegmatites about 1,000 meters east of the CM-1 pegmatite.

Metallurgical test work was conducted on these bulk samples in 1981, which demonstrated potential to produce a spodumene concentrate via flotation. Limited systematic exploration work has been conducted beyond the pegmatites described above, and mapping and sampling are required to determine the extent of spodumene-bearing pegmatites elsewhere within the Muskox project area.

"More recently there has been a resurgence of exploration in pegmatites as the electric vehicle demand for lithium has put pressure on an undersupplied market. Despite containing a lithium-bearing pegmatite, the CM-1 pegmatite has never been drilled and at least several apparent pegmatites on the Muskox project remain unsampled," Carew added,

Drilling targets shallow, deep gold

In addition to the lithium boom east of town, Gold Terra Resource Corp. Jan. 18 reported the start of an 8,000-meter winter drilling program on the Con Mine option property in Yellowknife. The initial drilling program for 2023 will consist of 20 holes drilled from surface to a depth of about 600 meters over a 2,000-meter stretch with the objective of expanding the property's initial mineral resource estimate reported in September along the Campbell Shear south of the Con Mine.

In addition, preparations are underway to move in a second drill, which is capable of drilling 2,500-meter holes to test the depth extension of mineralization below the former Con Mine.

Gold Terra Chairman and CEO Gerald Panneton said the winter drilling program will continue to focus on expanding current near-surface mineral resources on this property optioned from subsidiaries of Newmont Corp.

The explorer also plans to drill the down plunge extension of the Con Mine deposit below 1,900 meters, seeking high-grade ore.

North Arrow Minerals Inc.

Outcropping lithium-tantalum-niobium-bearing pegmatites on North Arrow's DeStaffany project in Northwest Territories.

Panneton said the current resource remains open in all directions along the prolific six-kilometer-long (3.7 miles) Campbell Shear structure from which the Con Mine produced more than 5 million ounces of high-grade gold (16 g/t) along two kilometers (1.2 miles) of strike length.

"Our goal is to advance the project towards an economic study and bring further value to our shareholders," he added.

Gold Terra reported an initial resource of 820,000 metric tons of underground indicated resource averaging 7.55 g/t (109,000 oz) gold and 2 million metric tons of underground inferred resource averaging 6.74 g/t (432,000 oz) gold.

The initial Campbell Mine option mineral resource was delineated at a discovery cost of $12 per oz.

In November, the company completed a non-brokered private placement for gross proceeds of C$3.8 million, which is funding the substantial winter drilling program on the property.