Power Metals Corp. [TSXV: PWM; FSE: OAA1; OTCQB: PWRMF] reported that it has mobilized a diamond drill rig from Black Diamond Drilling to commence its 2024 Phase III drill program at its 100%-owned Case Lake property in northeastern Ontario. The company anticipates completing a total of 2,000 metres of exploration drilling to target high-grade cesium in pollucite, tantalum and lithium at West Joe and Main Zone.
The company recently intercepted several high-grade cesium and tantalum assay results from Phase I (reported June 18, 2024) and is currently reporting Phase II results over the next four weeks. Several overlimit samples have been recorded at SGS with the current Phase II assay results and are expected to be finalised this month.
Johnathan More, Chairman and Founder of Power Metals, commented: “We are still waiting on several assay results from our completed Phase II drill program. It has been confirmed by the lab (SGS) that they are overlimit samples, meaning these high-grade cesium assays must be retested to confirm. This has created a delay, however it gives us full confidence to restart the drill rig and commence Phase III drilling.”
“The company is extremely pleased to see the Black Diamond drill rig has arrived on site for our 2024 Phase III Program at Case Lake. We anticipate drilling to commence within the coming days and to have the program completed by mid-December. Phase III will add additional confidence to West Joe Project further to our recently reported high-grade results to date from Phase II.”
The Case Lake Property is located 80 km east of Cochrane, northeastern Ontario, close to the Ontario-Quebec border. The property consists of 585 cell claims in Steele, Case, Scapa, Pliny, Abbotsford and Challies townships, Larder Lake Mining Division. The property is 10km by 9.5km in size with 14 granitic domes. The Case Lake pegmatite swarm consists of six spodumene dykes known as the North, Main, South, East and Northeast dykes on the Henry Dome, and the West Joe dyke on a new dome, collectively forming mineralization trend that extends for approximately 10km.
Power Metals have completed several exploration campaigns that have led to the discovery and expansion of new and historic spodumene bearing LCT pegmatites at Case Lake. The company has drilled a total of 22,231 meters of core between 2017 and 2024 at the Property. The Case Lake Property is owned 100% by Power Metals Corp. A NI 43-101 Technical Report was prepared on Case Lake Property and filed on July 18, 2017.
The Pelletier Property is located 50km south of Hearst, northeastern Ontario close to a network of forestry roads. The Property consists of 337 mineral claims that account for a total of 7,000 hectares in Franz, Roche, Scholfield, and Talbot townships in the Porcupine mining division. The Pelletier Project is characterized by LCT prospective S-type pegmatitic granites intruding into metasedimentary and amphibolite of the Quetico at or near Archean terrane boundary between the Quetico and Wawa sub-provinces.
The Decelles Property contains 669 claims, covering 38,404 hectares of LCT prospective ground near the mining centers of Val d’Or and Rouyn-Noranda, approximately 600km from Montreal. Power Metals acquired the Decelles and Mazerac properties from Winsome Resources in 2023 in a deal that allowed Winsome to increase its stake to 19.59%.
Geology of Decelles property is part of the Archean Pontiac sub-province where S-type LCT prospective, pegmatite bearing, granitic Decelles Batholith intrudes into metasedimentary units of the Pontiac Group. Spodumene and Beryl bearing pegmatites have been reported historically within the Pontiac sub-province in association with S-type garnet-muscovite granite. The Decelles property is adjacent to Vision Lithium’s Cadillac property where discovery of high-grade lithium pegmatites was reported in 2022.
The Mazerac property is located approximately 30 km east of Power Metals’ Decelles property near well-established mining camps in the Abitibi region of Canada and is accessible by network of mining-grade forestry roads. The Mazerac property contains 259 claims that cover 14,700 hectares of LCT prospective ground near the mining center of Val-d’Or and Rouyn-Noranda. The regional geology of Mazerac is similar to Decelles where S-type LCT prospective, pegmatite bearing, granites of Decelles Batholith intrude into metasedimentary units of the Pontiac Group. Spodumene and Beryl bearing pegmatites have been reported historically within the Pontiac sub-province in association with S-type garnet-muscovite granite (Figure 2).
Pollucite is a rare mineral that hosts high grade cesium and is associated with highly fractionated, rare element pegmatites. The main source of cesium known globally is pollucite (Cs,Na)₂(Al₂Si₄O₁₂)•2H₂O. Currently the Tanco mine in Manitoba, Canada is the only operating cesium deposit and holds over 60% of the known reserves globally.
