Redstone to launch straight into reconnaissance geological mapping
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Advanced lithium brines play Galan has entered Quebec’s James Bay hard rock province with a bang, forming a JV with fellow ASX-listed Redstone to acquire ground adjacent to Patriot Battery Metals’ CV8 pegmatite discovery. The James Bay region is one of the top lithium exploration addresses in 2023, thanks to Patriot [COLOR=var(--accent-foreground-rest)]defining the eight largest spodumene deposit globally at its Corvette property – with a resource of 109Mt at 1.42% Li2O – and Allkem [COLOR=var(--accent-foreground-rest)]upgrading resource[/COLOR]s at its James Bay project to 110.2Mt at 1.3% Li2O.[/COLOR] As such, it is a real coup that [COLOR=var(--accent-foreground-rest)]Galan Lithium (ASX:GLN) and managing partner Redstone Resources (ASX:RDS) have been able to ink a binding deal to acquire 100% of the Taiga, Camaro and Hellcat lithium projects from Infinity Stone Ventures (CSE:GEMS).[/COLOR] Why is this exciting? The three projects, which cover a total of 5,187 hectares, are directly adjacent to Patriot Battery Metals’ (ASXMT) CV8 pegmatite – part of its Corvette property – where grab sampling has returned an average grade of 4.6% Li2O. This places Taiga, Camaro and Hellcat right in the beating heart of the James Bay region where advanced exploration activity is being carried out.
All three projects demonstrate the elements necessary for spodumene‐bearing pegmatite emplacement – namely the presence of nearby granites, providing a source for melts; Greenstone belts, acting as host rocks; and large‐scale structural features acting as conduits for the melts.
Pegmatites up to 200m in length have been identified at the Taiga and Camaro projects whilst the primary Rouget greenstone belt within Hellcat is of similar age to the Grupe de Guyer greenstone belt within Patriot’s Corvette discovery. Basic geologic reconnaissance carried out by Infinity Stone Ventures’ contractor Axiom Exploration Group returned encouraging geochemical trends indicative of fractionation commonly associated with pegmatite mineralisation.
Option for more ground
The agreement with Infinity Stone Ventures also includes the option to acquire the PAK South and PAK Southeast claims in Ontario’s Red Lake Mining Division. This is also the heart of Ontarios’ ‘Electric Avenue’ where Avalon Advanced Materials recently announced a lithium battery metals refinery. The two projects, which cover 1,258 hectares and 157 hectares respectively, are adjacent to Frontier Lithium’s (TSXV:FL) PAK lithium project that hosts the Spark and PAK deposits as well as two other prospects.
PAK has a high confidence Measured and Indicated resource of 6.68Mt grading 2.02% Li2O and an additional Inferred resource of 2.67Mt at 2.29% Li2O while Spark is a fair bit larger with an Indicated resource of 14.4Mt at 1.4% Li2O and an Inferred resource of 18.1Mt at 1.37% Li2O.
Recent exploration at Spark has also yielded an exciting 108.4m intercept grading 2.12% Li2O. The properties are located near the Bear Head Lake Fault, which is the dominant structural feature in the region and has been traced for over 140km from northwest-southeast within the PAK project.
Acquisition terms
On signing the agreement, Galan will issue 250,000 shares and pay C$500,000 in cash to Infinity Stone Ventures and a further 300,000 shares and C$255,000 in cash to private individuals as consideration for the James Bay lithium projects. It will also pay a three-month option exclusivity fee of C$20,000 and pay a further C$200,000 in cash and issue C$230,000 worth of shares on exercising the option over the PAK lithium projects.
Galan and Redstone will also grant the vendors a 2% net smelter royalty over the James Bay and PAK lithium projects with the right to buy back half of each NSR by paying each royalty holder C$1m. Meanwhile, under the JV Redstone will issue Galan with the lower of 50 million RDS shares or RDS shares equal to C$500,000 based on 5-day volume weighted average price prior to the date of approval by Redstone shareholders. Redstone will also issue Galan the lower of 20 million RDS shares or C$215,000 worth of RDS shares if the PAK lithium projects option is exercised.
Galan now has ground in two global lithium hotspots
Galan managing director Juan Pablo Vargas de la Vega said the company was pleased to invest in the world-renowned James Bay lithium district and the premier lithium district of North-West Ontario in joint venture with Redstone as they both represented low entry cost ventures into Canada. “The JV projects are of quality and situated nearby excellent lithium discoveries, with the James Bay lithium projects being adjacent to the Patriot Battery Metals’ high-grade CV8 pegmatite discovery, and the PAK Lithium Projects situated in Ontario’s Electric Avenue area,” he said.
“Securing a prospective position in two premier lithium exploration global hotspots is value accretive and complements our exploration efforts in Greenbushes South in Western Australia to create further value for shareholders in parallel with our development and production lithium brine assets in Argentina.”
Busy times ahead
As manager, Redstone plans to complete reconnaissance geological mapping program, including rock chip sampling for geochemical assays, at the projects. This program will assess the prospectivity of pegmatites for lithium mineralisation within the project areas and will include the large number of already documented outcropping pegmatites. Results will be inform on areas to be targeted for further investigation, such as geophysical exploration to determine the geometry of any lithium‐bearing pegmatites at depth. Once data from these programs has been received, it intends to develop an exploration strategy to drill test the best targets identified.
This article was developed in collaboration with Galan Lithium, a * advertiser at the time of publishing.
MT) CV8 pegmatite – part of its Corvette property – where grab sampling has returned an average grade of 4.6% Li2O.
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