FE Battery Metals Crop owns 100% rights on the Falcon Lake Lithium Property comprising of 48 mining claims covering approximately 960 hectares land located in the Thunder Bay Mining Division Northwestern Ontario, Canada. It is located approximately 325 km North-northeast of Thunder Bay, Ontario which is the closest port of Lake Superior for seaboard access. The Project area is located approximately 75 km northeast of Armstrong, Ontario, and can be accessed via Jackfish Road which is an extension of Airport Rd., leading northeast out of Armstrong. A considerable amount of logging has taken place on the surroundings of the property, providing year-round access to the Project.
Geologically, the Property area is underlain by the east-west trending Caribou Lake-O’Sullivan Greenstone Belt which extends eastward into the Onamon-Tashota Greenstone Belt. The belt is sandwiched by the Robinson Lake Batholith portion of the Lamaune Batholitic Complex to the south, and the English River Sub-Province to the north. The northeastern portion of the belt has been intruded by the tonalitic to quartz-dioritic Summit Lake Batholith. The English-River Sub-Province boundary is marked by a major, anastomosing east-west trending suture that appears to join with the Sydney Lake-Lake St. Joseph deformation zone to the northwest. The Caribou Lake greenstone belt has been subdivided into the older Marshall Lake Group and the younger Toronto Lake Group. Subsequent felsic intrusive rocks followed by the Crescent Lake Group and Falcon Lake Group pegmatite dykes are thought to be associated with this granitic plutonism. The entire sequence is overlain to the south by Proterozoic aged Keweenawan Diabase. The belt is generally metamorphosed to lower amphibolite facies and there is evidence the granitic intrusions have been metasomatized. Amphibolite hornfels are also observed as a rind at the margin of granite intrusions with the greenstone belts.
Pegmatite dykes in the area include the Seymour Lake Pegmatite Group, Crescent Lake Pegmatite Group and the Falcon Lake Pegmatite Group. The pegmatite dykes generally occur in two dominant orientations, the first parallel to the granite-volcanic contacts and the second northeast trending, parallel to a structural trend in the area. The Falcon Lake Pegmatite Group is described by Breaks as consisting of 7 pegmatite dykes that intrude amphibolitized mafic meta-volcanic rocks within a 0.25 km x 4.5 km area between Funnel and Falcon Lakes including the Falcon Lake Discovery Pegmatite, Falcon Lake East Pegmatite, Falcon Lake West Pegmatite, Falcon Lake Far West Pegmatite and the North Lamaune Pegmatite. These pegmatites are spodumene-subtype and have some of the highest reported tantalum- rich oxide values in Ontario, associated with manganotantalite and ferrotapiolite. Pye described these pegmatites as consisting of coarse-grained, unaltered spodumene and blocky potassium feldspar in a groundmass of quartz, albite, muscovite and minor apatite and tourmaline.
The first reported work on the property was completed in 1956 by British Canadian Lithium Mines Ltd. (“BCLM”) on the Discovery, Falcon West and Falcon East occurrences (Darling, 1962). A total of 22 diamond drill holes for approximately 1,658.57 metres (5,441.5 ft) were drilled amongst the three showings; six holes at Discovery, six at Falcon East and nine at Falcon West and Far West. The 1956 diamond drilling outlined four pegmatite zones to a depth of approximately 37 vertical metres (121 ft) from surface. Highlights of this drilling include 1.09% Li over 10.97 m (36.0 ft) and 0.41% Li over 24.72 m (81.1 ft) from hole W-9 in the West zone and 1.13% Li over 4.91 m (16.1 ft) from hole E-4 in the East zone.
Canadian Ore Bodies acquired the Property and carried out geological mapping along with litho- geochemical sampling in late October and November 2009, designed to generate new pegmatite targets and verify historical showings on the property. The Property hosts the Falcon West, Discovery, and Falcon East occurrences.
Of the 30 grab samples submitted, four returned analyses greater than 10,000 ppm Li (2.26% to 2.82% Li2O), along with associated anomalous beryllium, cesium, gallium, niobium, rubidium and tantalum results. Six of the remaining 26 samples returned anomalous lithium results greater than 1,000 ppm. The majority of the lithium-rich samples were taken from the Falcon West Occurrence, few came from the Falcon Discovery Occurrence.
The channel sampling program confirmed economic lithium tenor along the entire approximately 75 metre strike length of the Falcon Lake West occurrence. Sample highlights include seven samples ranging between 10,438 ppm Li to 14,800 ppm Li, 2.25% Li2O and 3.19% Li2O, respectively. Channel samples returned 1.537% Li2O over 6.98 m from channel #3 and 1.427% Li2O over 2.87 m from channel #12, with anomalous beryllium, cesium, gallium, niobium, rubidium, tin and tantalum. Channel samples from the Falcon Lake East showing returned up to 0.441% Li2O over 1.97 m from channel #16, with anomalous beryllium, cesium, gallium, niobium, rubidium, tin and tantalum. The highest single sample taken returned 5,290 ppm lithium, 1.14% Li2O.
In December of 2010, a total of 3 NQ size holes for 263.10 metres, completed in conjunction with the Zig- Zag Property drill program. The program was designed as follow-up for the Falcon West channel sampling to confirm pegmatite continuity and lithium and tantalum tenor down dip from surface trenching. All three drill holes intersected the lithium showings at depth, with an average width of approximately 15 metres and approximately 50 metres vertical depth from surface. A complex geology was ob26-unitin drilling where the north-south trending, steeply dipping pegmatite dyke intrudes the older mafic metavolcanic rocks, however, is cut by a generally east striking, moderately south dipping gabbro sill that intrudes both the metavolcanic rocks and the pegmatite dyke.
While it is unknown if the drill program accurately twinned the historical BCLM holes, consistencies were achieved between the actual pegmatite intercepts and grade with those expected, generally confirming the BCLM results. A strike length of approximately 75 metres, a down dip continuity of approximately 60 metres and an average true width of approximately 7 metres is estimated from drilling. An average grade of 1.045% Li2O is calculated from drill results (Table 1).
Table 1: Significant intersections from 2010 diamond drilling
Hole ID |
From |
To |
Width |
Li2O |
Ta2O5 |
Be |
Cs |
Nb |
Rb |
CO-10-001 |
69.30 |
83.30 |
14.00 |
0.99 |
52.5 |
145.4 |
166.0 |
62.5 |
2080.7 |
including |
69.30 |
74.30 |
5.00 |
1.25 |
46.6 |
214.7 |
189.8 |
69.4 |
2862.0 |
and |
79.30 |
83.30 |
4.00 |
1.50 |
47.9 |
128.7 |
120.1 |
78.7 |
1657.5 |
CO-10-002 |
55.30 |
62.30 |
7.00 |
1.07 |
68.6 |
136.4 |
377.9 |
46.1 |
3477.1 |
CO-10-003 |
39.40 |
50.40 |
11.00 |
1.10 |
50.0 |
115.2 |
83.3 |
62.5 |
1377.1 |
including |
44.40 |
50.40 |
6.00 |
1.52 |
48.5 |
156.6 |
84.7 |
79.9 |
1670.0 |
* Li2O% calculated as (Li ppm/1,000,000) x 2.153 x 100%