Benz Mining Corp. (TSXV: BZ) (ASX:BNZ) has confirmed the presence of multiple pegmatite dykes with visual observations of spodumene bearing pegmatites in its recently completed 1,176m reconnaissance drilling campaign at the Ruby Hill West lithium project in Quebec.
“We were very excited to be putting the first holes into a greenstone belt that had never had any historical exploration for lithium. We are now very excited to declare a virgin lithium discovery in the in the Upper Eastmain Greenstone Belt,” CEO, Xavier Braud, said.
“The significance of hitting 31m of spodumene bearing pegmatite from surface is extremely encouraging. In the limited drilling at Ruby Hill West, we have seen multiple parallel pegmatites essentially under shallow cover that contain visible spodumene.”
“Benz has locked up the whole 45km of prospective granite and greenstone contact that has never been explored for lithium. The closest drill hole to RHW is 1.2km away and was drilled for copper and nickel in 1966. We will send field crews as soon as the weather permits and we want to be back drilling at Ruby Hill West very soon.”
RHW22-001 intercepted three spodumene bearing pegmatite dykes from a depth of 73m visually identified by Benz’s geological team. Three other pegmatite dykes were identified as well but with no visible spodumene.
RWH22-002 potentially intercepted the same geological system as RHW22-001, 50m along the originally interpreted strike to the SW of RHW22-001. Five pegmatite dykes were identified from a depth of 68m with visually identified spodumene.
RHW22-003 drilled 100m to the NE and down dip from RHW22-001 and 002 intersected 3 spodumene bearing pegmatites from a depth of 172m.
RHW22-004 was drilled towards the north to verify the dip of these pegmatites corresponding to the surface outcropping. No pegmatites were intersected.
RHW22-005 was drilled 100m to the west and intersected several pegmatites with visible spodumene.
RHW22-006 was drilled to the south into a mag low, from the same setup as RHW22-004. It intersected 31.3m (3.4 to 34.7m) of coarse grained spodumene rich pegmatite. This intrusion is located at the contact between basalt and an meso-gabbro intrusion.
Drillholes had been designed to intersect at depth several mapped occurrences of pegmatites in the area. These outcrops are small and partly covered in overburden. The spodumene bearing pegmatite in hole RW22-006 does not outcrop, but is close to surface. Next summer Benz will conduct an extensive prospecting and soil campaign over the immediate area in hope of finding other pegmatites that are covered with glacial overburden and that do not come to surface.
At this stage, Benz does not know the geological controls on the pegmatite system and drilling has been designed to intercept pegmatites which from surface contacts and foliation are dipping at 70 to the NNW. Drilling from the six holes recently completed show several potential orientations for the pegmatite dykes, confirming the possible presence of a dyke swarm in the area.
