Company to drill for lithium near Yellowknife
92 Resources Corp gets go-head on project near Hidden Lake
Jessica Davey-Quantick
Northern News Services
Wednesday, March 29, 2017
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Exploration company 92 Resources Corp. may be sitting on one of the best lithium deposits in the world, according to a geologist working with a new exploration project near Hidden Lake.
The Vancouver-based business got the go ahead from the Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board to move to the next phase in its search for the metal element 40 kilometres east of Yellowknife. Jody Dahrouge, consulting geologist for the exploration project, says this area has potential.
"It could be, believe it or not, one of the best lithium districts in the world," said Dahrouge.
The board approved the company's land use permit on March 3 for a period of five years.
The lithium around Yellowknife is found in spodumene, a mineral found in pegmatite, a kind of igneous rock. Currently, lithium in the form of spodumene concentrate trades at US$904 per tonne, with a lithium oxide concentration of six to seven per cent. At this point, Dahrouge says the numbers are just "guess work" and there are no guarantees, but based on the commodity prices and the estimated concentration of the deposits, there could be around US$4 billion worth of lithium in this area.
Prices for lithium are booming, thanks to more electronics relying on lithium ion batteries. The price of lithium rose by 18 per cent between 2016 and 2017, and is primed to keep rising, as long as mobile devices such as tablets, smartphones and laptops keep running on lithium-ion batteries. In 2012, the global market for lithium-ion batteries was $11.7 billion. By the end of 2016, it had doubled to $22.5 billion.
The potential for lithium in the Yellowknife area was first noticed in the 1950s, but it wasn't until recently that the juice has been worth the squeeze.
"We've known about the lithium occurrences for many, many years, but there never was a strong lithium interest," said Tom Hoefer, executive director of the NWT & Nunavut Chamber of Mines.
"Suddenly people are going back and dusting off old reports, saying, 'OK let's go have a look a fresh look in areas where there is known lithium occurrences and let's see what folks maybe have missed.'"
What could make the Hidden Lake project special is the potential ease to getting the lithium out, as well as its use.
"There's very few districts in the world where you can get these massive amounts of lithium in a very localized area," said Dahrouge, adding its possible to drive right to the project.
Sampling in 2016 found a peak sample of 3.31 per cent lithium oxide on the Hidden Lake property.
The world's current largest active lithium mine, the Greenbushes Lithium Project in Australia, has reported reserves of 2.8 per cent lithium oxide.
In a news release, 92 Resources stated the maiden drill program for the project is planned for the last part of 2017. Before that kicks off, more prospecting and detailed mapping of the area is planned, especially of the rock formations discovered in 2016 that contain lithium. And Dahrouge stressed that community consultation was top of the list before any drilling will commence.
"It's the next thing in the queue, basically," he said.
The dates for the consultation are as of yet unconfirmed, but Dahrouge said it should begin shortly.
"We are encouraged to see new companies coming to the NWT to explore," said Hoefer. "I'm hopeful it's part of a growing trend of increasing exploration investment into the NWT's great untapped mineral potential as the markets come out of their long hibernation."
