The Pontax lithium spodumene pegmatite dyke (LSPD) project is a 100% owned property by Stria. It is located in the west-central Eeyou Istchee Baie-James (EIBJ) Territory in northern Québec.
Stria launched its first full drilling program at Pontax in 2017, completing seven holes for a total of 911.4 m. All seven holes intersected spodumene-bearing pegmatite dykes grading from 0.65% Li2O to 2.49% Li2O over a min. of 1.0 m. The best intercept was 21.39m grading 1.16% Li2O in drill hole 975-17-0142.1
Historic work done on the property:
- Prospecting and outcrop sampling
- Geological mapping and airborne geophysical surveying
- Mechanical trenching and channel sampling
- Sample core drilling: drill hole 09-555-05 returned 0.97% lithium oxide (Li2O) over 21.0 m (core length), including 1.43% Li2O over 13.0 m (from 36.0 m to 49.0 m)1
Q1 2020 Drilling Program Highlights:2
- Eleven drill holes completed for a total of 1,510.5 m drilled
- Ten (10) of the 11 holes intersected pegmatite dykes with significant spodumene mineralization
- Hole 975-19-018 intersected 11.27 m grading 0.91% Li2O, including a subintercept of 2.84 m grading 1.72% Li2O
- Hole 975-19-020 intersected 3.36 m grading 2.55% Li2O in, at a vertical depth of 13.58 m
- Hole 975-19-016 intersected two bands of spodumene pegmatite dykes, the first grading 1.45% Li2O over 1.61 m and the second grading 1.11% Li2O over 2.10 m
- Hole 975-19-022 intersected 3.89 m grading 1.28% Li2O at a vertical depth of 31.2 m, while Hole 975-19- 016 intersected 1.61 m grading 1.45% Li2O
- The spodumene pegmatite dyke swarm at the Pontax LSPD prospect extends over a min. distance of 650 m and is open along strike to the northeast and at depth, while thinning out toward the southwest.
For more detailed section views of core samples from the 2020 drilling program, please see the Appendix of our corporate presentation.
Pontax Central Drill Target
- Over 620m of strike extent on central outcrop area which remains OPEN under shallow cover
- High-grade Lithium bearing pegmatites from surface tested to only ~ 115m
- Open at depth and thickest intersection in historic drilling (15.6m @ 1.6% Li2O from 83.9m) in deepest drilling
- Multiple untested pegmatite outcrops at Pontax North – priority target for follow up
- Walk up drill targets and resource definition drilling planned for immediate exploration programs
Next Steps
- The Property remains largely unexplored for new lithium spodumene dyke occurrences. We are just getting started.
- Stria is working on a first major phase of a 10,000 m infill and step-out drilling program at Pontax in 2022, using findings from past exploration to optimize drill program design.
- The objective is to expand the dyke swarm to the Northeast and improve confidence in the lateral and downwards continuity of the spodumene mineralization.
In June 2022, Stria received a $275,000 grant from the Government of Quebec to conduct a geometallurgical study of lithium-bearing spodumene pegmatites at its Pontax property in the coming months.
True thicknesses reported.
1 For more information, refer to Stria’s news release dated May 30, 2018
2 Refer to Stria news releases dated December 2, 2021, and January 10, 2022, for complete details. Significant mineralized intercepts are defined as Li2O > 0.5% over a min. true thickness of 1.5 m
Tier 1 Jurisdiction with Large, High Grade Lithium Projects
- James Bay is a district of major lithium projects1
- Pontax is high grade and totally underexplored
- 10km of strike along a fertile greenstone belt
- First pass drilling intercepted high-grade lithium spodumene including:
- 9.0m @ 1.7% Li2O from 46.9m
- 15.6m @ 1.6% Li2O from 83.9m
- 4.8m @ 2.6% Li2O from 19.4m
- 13.0m @ 1.4% Li2O from 36m
- Results from recently completed LiDAR and magnetics has delivered numerous walk-up targets, including unmapped pegmatites
- Metallurgical test work generated 6% spodumene concentrate using conventional processing techniques with potential tantalum byproduct with grades of up to 549 ppm Ta2O5 in drilling1
- 10,000m drill program commenced
