Cygnus Metals Limited (ASX:CY5) has confirmed it is planning to acquire the Auclair Property in Canada’s world-class James Bay lithium province in Quebec from Osisko.
“The acquisition is an excellent opportunity for Cygnus and satisfies our strict investment criteria of being prospective for lithium with access to infrastructure in James Bay, Quebec. The fact that our geologist has confirmed spodumene bearing pegmatites in core, on an open contact with no historic drill program targeting lithium, is exciting,” Managing Director, David Southam, said.
“We now have two advanced projects in the heart of the world-class James Bay lithium province, spear headed by Pontax, where we have three rigs operating and a resource scheduled for mid-2023.”
The Auclair property comprises 48 claims covering 25.5sq. km and is located just 60km north-east of Whabouchi (55.7Mt @1.4% Li2O),1 which is owned and operated by Nemaska Lithium.
No lithium exploration or analysis has been conducted at the project, with previous work focused on gold.
A total of 12 diamond drill holes have been completed on the property for 3,173m. A review of drill logs and available core has confirmed two unsampled pegmatite intervals from drillhole AC-2010-004, one of which has been confirmed by Cygnus to contain visual spodumene mineralization.
Unfortunately, due to the poor condition of the core storage facility, only one interval could be validated by Cygnus geologists at this time: 11m of spodumene bearing pegmatite from 212.8m.
Drillhole AC-2010-004, containing visible spodumene mineralization, is completely open along strike with no other drilling along the interpreted prospective trend. This presents Cygnus with an exceptional opportunity to conduct the first ever lithium focussed exploration at the Auclair Lithium Project, with known spodumene bearing pegmatites which have never been assayed, let alone followed up.
The Auclair property lies within the Middle to Lower Eastmain Greenstone Belt, which forms part of the La Grande sub-province of the Archean Superior Province of the Canadian Shield. The geology of the property comprises tholeiitic basalts and paragneiss with extensive banded iron formation horizons.
The project also boasts excellent infrastructure with year-round access through gravel roads that service Hydro Quebec power lines which lie within one km of Auclair.
Planned Exploration
Once assays are received from re-sampled core, follow up drilling is planned, stepping up dip and along strike from AC-2010-004 to understand the orientation of the pegmatite mineralization. This work will also begin to establish the scale and potential of pegmatite mineralization at Auclair.
In conjunction to exploration drilling, fundamental exploration targeting layers including LiDAR, high resolution aerial imagery and magnetics will be flown in to define further targets ahead of detailed mapping and sampling planned for the summer campaign.
As with the Pontax project area, much of the newly acquired property is covered by shallow glacial cover and thick vegetation with very little outcrop. This is particularly notable along the trend of the mafic belt and provides potential for utilizing modern geophysics to target pegmatites under cover.
For further information please visit: https://www.cygnusmetals.com/
