Volta drills gallium 210m past Springer pit

Volta Metals (CSE: VLTA; US-OTC: VOLMF) traced gallium 210 metres beneath the current open-pit outline at its Springer rare earth project in Ontario, widening the mineralized footprint beyond what the existing resource captures.

Hole SL26-31 returned 399 metres grading 51.8 grams gallium oxide per tonne from 3 metres downhole. SL26-32 cut 53.9 metres grading 1.22% total rare earth oxides and 47 grams gallium oxide from 372.1 metres to the hole’s end at 426 metres, Volta said Monday in a statement. Springer lies 8 km outside Sturgeon Falls, roughly 300 km north of Toronto.

“What is most compelling is that gallium is not confined to the higher-grade rare earth mineralization. It is broadly distributed throughout the host rocks across the deposit, giving us confidence that the gallium footprint may ultimately extend beyond the current rare earth resource,” CEO Kerem Usenmez said in the release.

Gallium is absent from Springer’s February resource of 56.6 million indicated tonnes grading 0.7% total rare earth oxides (TREO) containing about 396,000 tonnes of minerals and 119.5 million inferred tonnes at 0.6% for about 693,000 tonnes of TREO.

If recovery work supports its inclusion, Volta plans to add gallium to a resource update later this year, potentially giving Springer a second source of value as Western governments seek alternatives to China-dominated gallium supply.

Volta’s Canadian Securities Exchange-listed shares rose 6.8% to 23.5¢ apiece Monday, after gaining 161% over the past 12 months. Shares touched a low at 8¢ and a high at 29¢ over the period. The company has a market capitalization of $31.9 million (US$22.8 million).

Broad footprint

All three holes carried gallium through their full assayed lengths. SL26-33, the northernmost hole Volta has drilled at Springer, returned 399 metres grading 39.1 grams gallium oxide and 0.248% total rare earth oxides from 3 metres downhole. The true widths are unknown.

Of 863 samples from the three holes, 90% returned more than 30 grams gallium oxide per tonne. Volta has yet to establish and demonstrate how it is to economically mine the gallium from the deposit.

Volta’s geologists interpret much of the gallium as substituting for aluminum in potassium feldspar within the syenite and granitic gneiss surrounding the carbonatite veins. Rare earth grades rise more sharply in the veins, which helps explain why gallium extends through rock carrying lower rare earth grades.

The results form part of a 13-hole, 5,452-metre drill program Volta completed from January through April to infill the resource and test extensions. Assays from the remaining holes are pending.

Recovery work

Metallurgy now stands between the broad gallium intersections and their inclusion in a resource. Rare earth recovery is farther advanced: initial bench-scale testing by SGS Lakefield recovered as much as 88.2% of the rare earths through conventional flotation.

Volta is testing gallium bioleaching with Laurentian University and working with Idaho National Laboratory on rare earth and gallium processing. Those studies are to determine whether the gallium drilled outside Springer’s existing rare earth envelope can add economic value rather than simply enlarge its mineralized footprint.