Li-FT hits 1.56% lithium oxide over 26 metres near Yellowknife

Li-FT Power (TSXV: LIFT; US-OTC: LIFFF) has reported assays as high as 1.56% lithium oxide (Li₂O) over 26 metres at the road-accessible Big East pegmatite within the Yellowknife lithium project in the Northwest Territories.

Another hole at Big East, YLP-0129, intersected 18 metres at 0.95% Li₂O, 4 metres at 1.29% Li₂O and 5 metres at 1.13% Li₂O, one of eight highlighted drill results, the company said in a news release on Wednesday. 

“The continuity of high-grade spodumene mineralization at BIG East is really shaping up” said Li-FT CEO Francis MacDonald. “Also, we’ve intersected the BIG East system in YLP-0129, which looks like a faulted offset of the pegmatite. This opens up additional strike length to the northeast.”

The highlights come from 34,238 metres of drilling that Li-FT completed last year at the project east of the territorial capital city, one of several lithium exploration endeavours ongoing across Canada as explorers pursue critical minerals required for green technologies. 

At the Shorty target, further east of Big, drilling cut 10 metres grading 1% Li₂O. That pegmatite occurs within a north-of-northeast striking corridor and is visible for at least 700 metres on surface and dips 50° to 70° to the west-northwest. 

At the Echo target, located further southeast in a remote area away from any roads, drilling intersected 10 metres at 1.24% Li₂O, part of a pegmatite sitting along a northwest-trending corridor at least 1,000 metres in length and 450 metres in width. 

Li-FT plans to potentially double its drilling program this year to 70,000 metres starting in the second quarter, with an initial resource estimate expected in the late summer, followed by a preliminary economic assessment, MacDonald said last November. 

That month, the company also secured a land use permit to expand exploration at its Cali project in the territory, close to the border with Yukon. The spodumene pegmatite district in that area was first discovered in the 1960s. 

Shares in Li-FT were down 3.8% to $5.57 apiece on Wednesday afternoon in Toronto, valuing the company at $219.6 million. Its shares traded in a 52-week range of $4.50 and $7.15.