Garth Drever can't hide his excitement over Frontier Lithium's Pakeagama Lake Pegmatite (PAK) project's initial findings.
“We are very happy with what we are seeing,” said Drever, vice-president of exploration with the Sudbury-based junior mining company, formerly known as Houston Lake Mining.
“The deposits are very clean, very high grade and that's generating a lot of interest,” he told members of the Sudbury Prospectors and Developers Association at its monthly meeting March 20th. His presentation covered the progress of the project from discovery to preliminary feasibility study, and touched on the proposed mine site plan, road access, and a rough estimate for a production start.
The project is located 175 kilometres north of Red Lake near the First Nation communities of North Lake, Deer Lake and Spirit Lake.
A National Instrument 43-101 compliant mineral resource estimate shows a measured and indicated resource of 7.25 million tonnes of 1.69 per cent lithium oxide equivalent and an inferred resource of 1.9 million tonnes of 2.01 per cent lithium oxide.
What really excited them, he said, was this deposit has no inherent iron in it.
The bulk sample they took was so low in iron, Drever said they actually introduced iron during the grinding process.
Having low iron oxide in the sample is important. Technical-grade lithium has to have less than one per cent iron in it for making glass and ceramics.
“Pegmatites like we have here often have high iron in it, and it needs to go through chemical processing to produce lithium carbonate,” he said. “Our product can basically be taken out of the ground, (you) grind it up, do a process of floating to concentrate the lighter material off, and you have a concentrate that has low iron in it.”
Drever drew on his experience in uranium exploration to try a technique to locate lithium deposits.
He hypothesized the element would leach into the ground around a deposit near the surface and would be found in the plant life, just like uranium.
He took core samples from trees over a section of where he suspected the deposit was going and, indeed, found traces of lithium in the wood.
Drever was cautious on any firm dates for production, but the company is hoping for a 2022 date if demand for lithium continues to increase.
He claims this project is the biggest lithium deposit in North America.
And having very little iron oxide means it is very favourable to use in glass, ceramics, cookware and induction cooktops.
Even with increased demand for lithium in electric vehicle batteries, he said the lithium contained in the PAK project is prized for ceramics and glass.
As for their relations with area First Nations, Drever said the company has hired many members from the three bands to work on the project and is in talks with the communities to develop all-season access roads.
Frontier Lithium reports interest in the project from a European glass manufacturer as well as from China.
