Recharge Metals’ James Bay lithium hunt begins

Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) and high-resolution aerial imagery survey completed over the Express project
This survey produces high-resolution topography and photography of the areas to allow accurate landform analysis to be performed
All contracts in place for fieldwork to begin

Recharge Metals hopes to dial in on lithium bearing pegmatites at the Express project in James Bay following completion of a Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) and high-resolution aerial imagery survey.

Recharge Metals’ (ASX:REC) LiDAR survey was designed to ‘see’ undiscovered pegmatites across the entire Express lithium project, ~12km from Allkem’s James Bay deposit (110.2Mt @ 1.30% Li2O) and 15km from Cygnus Metals’ Pontax deposit (10.1Mt @ 1.04% Li2O).

According to REC, these pegmatite outcrops are more resistant to weathering than other lithologies present in the project area and tend to present as topographic highs, which can be detected by the high-resolution LiDAR survey.

Benefits of LiDAR survey

This technique has been used by other explorers and producers in the James Bay region as an exploration tool for the discovery of lithium-bearing pegmatites with the added benefit of high-resolution aerial imagery and high-quality topographic control.

LiDAR surveys produce high-resolution topography and photography of the areas to allow accurate landform analysis to be performed, enabling detailed desktop exploration of outcropping pegmatites and geological features.

While photo interpretation generation, previously undertaken by geological consulting firm Dahrouge Geological, successfully generated four high-priority target areas for lithium mineralisation, LiDAR surveys go one step further by producing accurate volumetric maps of areas within a mine that are not possible with other technologies.

They can also create detailed models of ore bodies.

Results to be released shortly

REC managing director Felicity Repacholi-Muir said the company is looking forward to sharing the results from the survey when the data has been processed.

“The LiDAR survey is anticipated to contribute to our knowledge of the Express project, with the aim of revealing unknown pegmatite targets for evaluation and validating those that we have already identified,” she explained.

“These will be explored in tandem with our four existing high priority target areas at Express.”

What’s next?

Access to the Express project has been restricted due to the emergency fire evacuation order from Québec’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry.

Dahrouge Geological suspended field activities in the area in response to these instructions, however REC says access restrictions are gradually easing as the fires abate.

All contracts are in place for the summer field season to progress the project once safe working conditions allow.

Dahrouge Geological will complete on ground exploration, including detailed geological mapping and sampling of the priority target areas to confirm the presence and geochemistry of the lithologies present.

Diamond drilling will then kick off on key lithium targets identified from the mapping and geochemical sampling.

Importantly, this drilling can be completed throughout all seasons.

This article was developed in collaboration with Recharge Metals, 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.