Cosmos Exploration Limited (ASX: C1X) has announced a significant breakthrough from the company’s’ maiden reconnaissance field programme at its highly prospective Corvette Far East Lithium Project (CFE), located in the prolific James Bay district in Quebec, Canada only 40km from the CV5 lithium discovery by Patriot Battery Metals Inc.
Cosmos recently completed a nine-day helicopter-supported rock sampling programme during which a large suite of pegmatite outcrop and boulder samples were taken for field assessment. During the programme, both portable XRF and LIBS instruments were utilised to great effect on specific minerals to assess the fertility of the pegmatitesto host spodumene.
Specifically, low potassium/rubidium ratios in muscovite and/or feldspar, as well as high lithium in muscovite, have been shown to be key indicators for more fractionated pegmatites toward the highly evolved spodumene-bearing pegmatites. During the programme this work highlighted the western side of the CFE Project, over a priority area of 4.5km by 1.3km, to be highly prospective based on an abundance of widespread pegmatite swarms that occur at surface on closer inspection in the field.
Importantly, these pegmatites variably display widespread characteristic low potassium/rubidium ratios on feldspar, elevated lithium readings in muscovite as well as observed characteristic green, silver, and white muscovite micas from pegmatites, which are all key indicators of highly fractionated lithium-caesium-tantalum (LCT) pegmatites.
As a direct result of Cosmos’s successful field strategy, and on closer follow-up inspection on one specific area, large white (to faint green) spodumene crystals up to 20cm were observed in a moss-covered outcrop or pegmatite over a small area. Clearing moss off the pegmatite outcrop revealed an outcrop of at least 20m by 10m with further sporadic clearing along strike confirming that the same pegmatite extends for at least 40m by 20m.
Due to the dominantly white colour of spodumene and the black moss staining of the outcrop, spodumene percentages were difficult to determine but they were positively identified in at least two areas.
An important field observation of the outcrop at Polaris is that the pegmatite appears to plunge under low lying cover and swamp along strike to the south-southwest. The Polaris spodumene-bearing outcrop is interpreted to remain open in this direction and concealed beneath cover. The recently acquired airborne magnetic data strongly supports a strong demagnetised linear feature that occurs sub-parallel to the strike of the Polaris pegmatite to the south-southwest.
It is interpreted that this demagnetized feature, as well as other east-west features, may be caused by structures within the amphibolite host rock and intruding pegmatite swarms. Cosmos considers this trend to be a high priority target for further work. There are several other key implications to this significant development at Polaris.
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