Pure Resources Limited (ASX:PR1) has secured an additional 110 sq. km of claims situated 65km northeast of Patriot Battery Metals Inc.’s (PMET) Corvette discovery, in the Superior Province, Quebec, Canada.
This follows the recent approval of 160 sq. km of claims and takes the company’s landholding to a belt-scale holding of 270 sq. km over the Laforge Greenstone Belt.
“Following the company’s global review for future facing metal opportunities, the Laforge Greenstone Belt was of particular interest as it was recognised that the geology is analogous to lithium belts in Canada and globally,” Executive Chairman, Patric Glovac, said.
“The geological team led by Dr. James Warren have done an excellent job to cost effectively secure these greenfield claims covering a significant portion of the 70 km long Laforge Greenstone Belt that has structural and lithological analogies to the nearby La Grande Greenstone Belt, host to the Corvette pegmatite discoveries.
“We believe these claims, whilst greenfields are situated in the same geological province and exhibit analogous rock types, structural setting and geophysical properties as observed at the Corvette Lithium Trend 65 km to the southwest.
“This is a genuine opportunity to discover a significant lithium deposit in a Tier-1 jurisdiction and we’re excited to kick-off exploration with aerial reconnaissance mapping and sampling to be undertaken in the coming weeks.”
The Laforge Claims
PR1 (Canada) Ltd (a wholly owned subsidiary of Pure Resources Ltd) received approval for the Company’s application for 180 claims situated in central Quebec, Canada.
An additional 36 claims remain pending and are expected to be granted in due course. This application is in addition to the previously announced 319 claims with the combined tenement package now covering an area of 270 km2. The claims are situated 35 km from the La Grande-4 (LG-4) hydroelectric generating station that is part of Hydro-Québec’s James Bay Project and are accessible by a network of roads that service the hydroelectric project.
Rare-element pegmatites occur along large regional-scale faults in greenschist and amphibolite facies metamorphic terranes. They are typically hosted by mafic metavolcanic or metasedimentary rocks and are located near peraluminous granite plutons. PMET’s Corvette discovery is the nearest known lithium project and shares many geological similarities with the Company’s Laforge claims. Review of publicly available geological and geophysical datasets by Company geologists identified that the Laforge Greenstone Belt is prospective for pegmatite-hosted lithium deposits due to the following geological attributes:
– Two families of rare-element pegmatites are common in Quebec, Ontario and Manitoba, Canada: Li-Cs-Ta enriched (LCT) and Nb-Y-F enriched (NYF). LCT pegmatites typically occur in the Superior province, whereas NYF pegmatites o La Grande greenstone belts are situated within the Superior province and are as such considered prospective for the LCT pegmatite family.
– The rock types of the Laforge Greenstone Belt are dominated by amphibolite facies, mafic to ultramafic metavolcanics and intermediate to mafic paragneiss units. This stratigraphy is analogous to PMET’s Corvette property where pegmatite intrusions are hosted within basalt derived amphibolite rocks.
– The main target corridor, within the Laforge Greenstone Belt, is defined by high- magnetic signatures, which is indicative of the presence of rocks rich in iron and magnesium (i.e. mafic and ultramafic lithologies). The magnetic data will be a key targeting tool for identifying prospective corridors where the rheological and structural architecture are favourable for the intrusion of pegmatite bodies. By analogy, the Corvette pegmatites are situated along a high-magnetic corridor, indicative of the underlaying mafic stratigraphy which hosts the pegmatites.
– The Quebec geological survey, Ministère des Ressources naturelles et des Forêts (MERN), has identified multiple peraluminous granites adjacent to the Pure’s claims and it is hypothesised that one, or more, of these granites could be a potential source of LCT pegmatites.
– MERN has mapped “Dykes and masses of pegmatite” in the eastern corner of the tenure and noted the “presence of crystalline epidote and sericitized pegmatite”. No assays were completed for the mapped pegmatites and the nature and mineralogy of the pegmatites require further investigation occur in the Grenville province
The Laforge and Next Steps
The Company has engaged Apex Geoscience Ltd to complete a two-week helicopter assisted mapping and sampling program to further investigate the potential of the Laforge claims and aims to identify outcropping pegmatites which will be targeted in follow-up exploration programs. The mapping and sampling programme will be undertaken in early December 2022.
Pure is also considering other opportunities to expand their tenement holding within the region
For further information please visit: https://pureresources.com.au/
