Lithium brine gets most of the attention in North America because it is the type of deposit at the only lithium mine on the continent, Albemarle’s Silver Peak in Clayton Valley, Nevada. Ask miners exploring hard rock lithium, though, and they’ll likely tell you that for reliable high-grade lithium, pegmatite deposits are the way to go.
Lithium-bearing pegmatite, a course-grained intrusive igneous rock, is the focus of Equitorial Exploration Corp. (TSX-V: EXX)(OTCQB: EQTXF) in Southeast Manitoba, an area known historically to be rich in lithium and other elements, including tantalum. The world-class Tanco Mine, 20 kilometres to the south of Equitorial’s property, has been producing tantalum from spodumene (a host mineral for lithium in pegmatites) for almost five decades.
The Vancouver-based company said Wednesday morning that drilling at its Cat Lake Lithium Property continues to intersect pegmatite, expanding the potential for the resource.
Equitorial’s project is adjacent to Quantum Minerals’ (TSX-V: QMC) (OTCPK: QMCQF) highly prospective Cat Lake Mineral Project. During the 1950’s, the underground Irgon Lithium Mine on Quantum’s property had a historic estimate of 1.25 million tons of ore grading 1.51% lithium oxide.
Due to low lithium prices, no lithium was ever produced at the mine. At one time, the Cat Lake area was expected to be a prolific mining region due to the Irgon Mine, with all necessary infrastructure put in place to develop the region.
The newest drill hole by Equitorial reportedly cut 20 metres of the same pegmatite originally discovered 50 metres to the east at its Cat Lake project. The first drill hole encountered the pegmatite 72 metres from the surface, while the latest made the intersect 90 metres below surface, confirming the lateral extension of the pegmatite.
Throughout Equitorial’s pegmatite exploration program, every drill hole has cut pegmatite of varying degrees at different depths. Drilling of the last hole in the program is underway while intervals are being sampled with assay results pending.
Confirmation of pegmatites apparently wasn’t enough for Equitorial to overcome negative sentiment towards TSX-Venture companies in general Wednesday morning.
As the broader S&P/TSX-Venture Composite Index is off 2%, shares of EXX are down 10% at nine cents as of about 11 a.m. in Toronto.
