Azincourt Energy Pegmatite Discovery Suggests Lithium Find in Canada

Vancouver-based Azincourt Energy said on Sept. 26 it has discovered a significant pegmatite field during initial exploration for its Big Hill Lithium project in southern Newfoundland, Canada.

Lithium, a key mineral used to make batteries such as for electric vehicles and electronics, can be extracted from pegmatite, which is an igneous rock or crystalline granite. The company said pegmatites were identified around a government mapped mafic unit with an estimated age of Late Silurian.

“The first round of exploration on the Big Hill Project was successful in identifying pegmatites on the property,” Trevor Perkins, vice president of exploration for Azincourt, said in a news release. “The area is significantly underexplored and will require additional detailed work to examine the pegmatites identified, the extents of the systems and determine if there are lithium bearing phases within the system. … We have barely scratched the surface on examining the property.”

Located south of the Benton Resources Inc. and Sokoman Minerals Corp. joint venture, Kraken Lithium Pegmatite Field discovery, Big Hill consists of three contiguous exploration licenses with a combined 300 claims covering 7,500 hectares. The pegmatite field was discovered in the southern edge of claim 035342M, which spans for about 400 m trending north-northeast, Azincourt said.

As part of the helicopter-assisted exploration program, a team of five geologists and one prospector collected about 70 bedrock samples. Azincourt’s partner Atlantis Battery Metals Corp. conducted the initial exploration program.

Azincourt said it is considering additional exploration, which may be split into two phases. Phase 1 would involve helicopter-assisted prospecting, geological mapping and geochemical sampling, plus a preliminary geochemistry survey for lithium-cesium-tantalum pegmatite lithium path-finder elements, among other tasks. Based on the Phase 1 results, a second phase would involve high-resolution geophysical and drone surveys, selected trenching and an initial 1,500-m diamond drilling program.