Imagine Lithium Inc. [TSXV-ILI; OTCQB-ARXRF] provided an update on its ongoing exploration activities at the Jackpot lithium project, located within the rapidly emerging lithium camp in the Georgia Lake area, approximately 140 km northeast of Thunder Bay, Ontario. The Jackpot property is characterized by swarms of mineralized lithium-bearing pegmatite dikes distributed across the 18,800-hectare land package.
Highlight holes from the ongoing drill program at the Jackpot Main Zone include 14.35 metres grading 1.22% Li2O in hole JPMET-2023-03; 12.05 metres grading 1.06% Li2O in hole JPMET-2023-02; 9.98 metres grading 1.14% Li2O in hole JPMET-2023-01B; and 9.0 metres grading 1.00% Li2O in hole JP-2023-P1.
Drilling is currently ongoing at the Jackpot Main Zone with the goal of expanding the lithium resources. Areas being tested included the northern area of the Jackpot Main Zone where the company is seeing another stacked dike and intercepting pegmatites up to 20 metres in thickness, as well as the eastern extension of the Jackpot Main Zone which can expand the mineralization along strike. The terrane north of the Jackpot Main Zone, also includes the Point Lithium area which will be drilled this winter.
J.C. St-Amour, President, commented, “We are expecting our exploration drilling program to continue into the fall and winter months as we evaluate areas to the north and east of the Jackpot Main Zone to continue building on historical resources and add to the success of the 2022 drill program, which nearly doubled the length of the mineralized lithium zone to 900 m. Drilling will also continue to investigate targets outside the Jackpot Main Zone, including the Point Lithium area, which appears to parallel the Jackpot pegmatite dikes.”
The 2023 summer drill program also investigated the 500-m long spodumene-bearing pegmatite located 1.8 km NW of the Jackpot Main Zone. Eleven holes totalling 1,689 metres were completed and traced a continuous pegmatite that appears open to the east and west. The best intercept yielded 1.31 % Li2O over 4.15 metres. This EW-trending dike may be associated with the Point Lithium granitic pegmatite and merits further investigation.
In addition, a drilling program tested the ‘SW pegmatites’, located 1.4 km SW of Jackpot, where channel samples in 2022 returned 10.3 metres grading 1.23% Li2O and 10.0 metres grading 1.02% Li2O.
Twenty-two diamond drill holes were completed totaling 3,093 metres. Lithium concentrations appear to decrease west of the main showing. The area to the east of main spodumene-bearing dikes remains to be drilled.
A large campaign of till sampling was carried out this season, targeting the less explored areas of the property. These areas have a significant potential for discovery of new spodumene-bearing pegmatites. Grids of 200 m x 100 m were implemented to collect C-Horizon material (basal till). Preliminary results from the high-potential areas lying to the north and southeast of the Main Jackpot Zone and covering the 500 metres and Point Lithium pegmatites indicate a significant number of till samples having lithium concentrations > 40 ppm (40-163 ppm).
These lithium values extend over an area of 4.2 km2 located between the two pegmatite sites. The company believes this represents significant exploration potential and plans to systematically drill the area over the winter months.
A prospecting and sampling program covering potentially fertile zones for discovering Li-rich pegmatite dikes was recently completed. Systematic rock sampling of granitic pegmatite dikes and granitic plutons was carried out in the southeastern and southwestern areas of the property around Cosgrave Lake and in the northeastern sections on the shore and islands of Barbara Lake. The selection of exploration targets was largely based on the proximity of granitic rocks having chemical signatures and mineralogy (ex: muscovite, biotite, tourmaline, garnet) that could indicate the occurrence of spodumene-bearing pegmatite dikes at their periphery. The company intentionally chose areas with limited historical exploration and will develop further exploration programs based on the coming results from these sampling programs. The company is awaiting final assay results which will help to conduct follow-up exploration.
The company holds the Jackpot lithium property located approximately 12 km by road from the TransCanada Highway (Hwy 11), and is in proximity to sources of power, railroads, and ports. The property contains known lithium-bearing granitic pegmatite dikes, of which two provided estimated historical resources of 2 million tons at 1.09% Li2O and 750,000 tons at 1.38% Li2O.
