High Lithium Content Identified
Gold Terra Resource (TSX.V: YGT, FSE: TX0, WKN: A2P0BS) is, as the company name suggests, focused on gold. However, the company is leveraging the enormous potential of its Yellowknife project by entering into cooperation agreements with partners regarding other elements and minerals present on the project. The option agreement signed with Midas Minerals focuses on rare earths and lithium.
The option therefore only covers lithium and rare earth deposits outside the gold corridor of the Yellowknife project and extends over approximately 718 square kilometers. The Yellowknife region is known to host several lithium-bearing pegmatites with associated tantalum minerals. They relate to several fertile deposits originating from the Prosperous Granite Complex.
Under the option agreement, Midas Minerals can initially acquire a 51% interest over a three-year period by paying 1.2 million Canadian dollars (CAD) to Gold Terra Resource, issuing 2.2 million new Midas Minerals common shares, and transferring these to Gold Terra Resource. Subject to a royalty of 1.5 percent of gross revenue, a minimum of five million CAD must then be invested in exploration on the project.
Ground Exploration Records Initial Success
The cash payment and issuance of shares took place in the summer of 2023. Midas Minerals can increase its stake to 80 percent in the future by spending an additional five million CAD on exploration activities on the project over the next two years. Gold Terra Resource has a 20 percent carried interest until a positive bankable feasibility study is available.
Gerald Panneton, Chairman and CEO of Gold Terra Resource, stated: “The lithium and rare earth potential of our large Yellowknife lands has always been known. Our agreement with Midas Minerals offers us excellent potential for a significant mineral discovery at no cost to Gold Terra until a positive bankable feasibility study is completed. Midas has already fulfilled its 2023 obligations and spent over 350,000 CAD on successfully evaluating the critical mineral potential in the Quyta Belt area, with samples returning up to 4.65 percent lithium. Well done, Midas crew!”
Lithium Content of up to 4.56 Percent Identified
More than 100 LCT pegmatites are known in the region, including historical indications of lithium and tantalum occurrences within the Yellowknife Lithium Project. Midas Minerals has now completed its first exploration period on the project in the Northwest Territories in Canada. From May to the end of August 2023, a total of 567 rock chip samples were collected as part of broad regional sampling programs over an area of about 300 square kilometers.
Ten spodumene-bearing pegmatites have been confirmed so far, showing peak grades of up to 4.65 percent lithium oxide. Additionally, Midas has successfully defined fertile pegmatite swarms with a total strike length of 58 kilometers and an area of 70 square kilometers. In the 2024 field season, Midas will conduct more detailed mapping to locate and define additional spodumene-bearing pegmatites within the fractionated pegmatite swarms found so far and prioritize targets for potential drill testing.
