Manhattan raises a toast to its spodumene discovery at Chebogue

Manhattan’s initial prospecting has proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that spodumene is present at its Chebogue lithium project in Nova Scotia, Canada.

To top it off, the large, coarse-grained spodumene-bearing boulders in glacial tills that were found at the BP target area are nearly identical in composition to those at Champlain Mineral Ventures’ Brazil Lake lithium project immediately to the south, which has measured and indicated resources of 555,300t at 1.3% Li2O and 381,000t at 1.48% Li2O respectively.

Additionally, St Mary’s University chair of geology Dr Jacob Hanley has positively identified massive spodumene separates in the five selected samples provided by the company with assays pending.

Manhattan Corporation (ASX:MHC) noted that indications obtained from the boulder trail suggest a probable, northeast orientated pegmatite bedrock source.

It added that glacial dispersion patterns in the area, which is 7.5km north of Brazil Lake, indicates that the bedrock lithium source is located approximately 200m in an up-ice direction (northwest) from the trace of the pegmatite boulder trail.

While visual observation of mineralisation provides a useful indication of what is present, they may not be representative of the entire sample and are not a replacement for laboratory assays.

“This is the first discovery of spodumene bearing pegmatites in southwest Nova Scotia since the nearby Brazil Lake Lithium deposit discovery in 1960,” country manager Paul Smith said.

“This discovery of spodumene-bearing pegmatite boulders at the BP Target Area is a strong indication that additional pegmatites will occur along this ~4-kilometre-wide stratigraphic sequence of metavolcanic and metasediments.”

Smith added that lack of previous lithium exploration at the company’s large landholding of about 1,200km2 covering more than 100km of strike both north and south of Brazil Lake highlighted the potential scale for more spodumene-bearing pegmatite discoveries.

A recent acquisition

Manhattan recently acquired the Chebogue project to complement its existing Tibooburra gold project and Ponton uranium project, all of which are characterised by their location in emerging and underexplored districts.

Besides its proximity to Brazil Lake, where ongoing drilling at two known lithium-bearing pegmatites has intersected additional pegmatites in core up to ~25 metres in true thickness, Chebogue also features excellent infrastructure.

This includes all-weather roads, airport, power grids, wind plants as well as being just 25km from the deep sea shipping facilities at Yarmouth port, which connects the project to the Atlantic Ocean and North American and global markets.

The proximity of ports and more favourable climatic temperatures than northern Canada, Manhattan could potentially be advancing a major new lithium province in Canada.

This article was developed in collaboration with Manhattan Corporation, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.