Platinex Inc. is pleased to announce that it has signed a binding letter of intent to option a 100% ownership interest in the Muskrat Dam Critical Minerals Project (the “Muskrat Dam Project” or the “Project”). The Muskrat Dam Project is located in Northwestern Ontario approximately 125 km northeast of Frontier Lithium’s PAK lithium project and 125 km northwest of Newmont’s Musselwhite gold mine. The Project comprises six (6) property blocks, which together cover 10,950 hectares (109.5 km2) in the highly prospective Muskrat Dam Lake (MDGB) and Rottenfish (RGB) greenstone belts.
The Project includes the Axe Lake Property, which shows potential to host lithium-bearing pegmatites. A major high-strain zone, the northwest-trending “Axe Lake deformation zone” (ALDZ), as termed here, is interpreted to pass through the property. This major structural zone potentially provided pathways for granitic melts and evolving pegmatites, potentially lithium-and other rare metals-bearing, to be emplaced into volcano-sedimentary rocks on the property. The Muskrat Dam Project also contains compelling Cu-Ni-PGE, gold, and chromite targets. Inco, Canadian Occidental, and other operators carried out historical exploration in the area during the 1970s and 1980s. However, the belt has seen little modern exploration, providing an excellent opportunity to make potential discoveries.
The acquisition positions Platinex as a significant player in this new area of interest as critical mineral exploration activity increases in Ontario. It also complements the Company’s more advanced W2 Cu-Ni-PGE project, which controls the Lansdowne House Igneous Complex, a prominent feature of the Oxford Stull Dome near Ontario’s Ring of Fire.
Axe Lake Property
The Axe Lake Property comprises 321 cell claims covering 6,175 hectares. The property is situated at the north-central edge of the Muskrat Dam Lake greenstone belt along the contact with the Misquamaebin Lake batholith (MLGB), which is composed of many discrete composite plutons. Volcano-sedimentary rocks underlie the property, which is bounded on the northeast by the MLGB. Ayers (1969), who mapped the Muskrat Dam Lake greenstone belt, describes the white pegmatites as dikes, sills, and lenses that commonly occur between Axe Lake and the Morrison River.1 These pegmatites typically consist of albite-oligoclase, quartz, muscovite, tourmaline, garnet, magnetite, and molybdenite. According to Ayers, the pegmatites have a maximum crystal size of 15 cm, and one of the pegmatite dikes, on a small island in the Severn River at the entrance of Axe Lake, contains fractured black tourmaline crystals up to 10 cm long.
The white muscovite-bearing pegmatites have also been intersected in a historical drill hole (#43455-0) located in the southeastern part of the property. These pegmatites occur within highly schistose and brecciated graywacke and gabbroic rocks.
Ayers also reported the presence of equigranular, garnetiferous, potassic muscovite-bearing post-gabbro leucogranites and pegmatites elsewhere in the MDGB. The presence of these rocks along with white muscovite-bearing pegmatites indicates that the Muskrat Dam Project presents a favourable environment for the presence of potential lithium-bearing pegmatites. According to Lewis and Patterson (2020), the geological setting of these rocks at the Muskrat Dam Project is comparable to Frontier Lithium’s PAK lithium project which is situated near an intersection of three differing lithologies, mafic to intermediate metavolcanic muscovite-bearing granitic and metasedimentary rocks.2
Other Properties
The Muskrat Dam Project includes the Windigo gold property, located at the southeast end of MDGB. At Windigo, Gold is associated with pyrite-chalcopyrite and occurs in quartz vein lenses within sheared north-south striking gabbroic sills. Gold has also been reported (Ayers 1969) on the Rottenfish property. Finally, the Fox Bay Property adds the optionality of a compelling Cu-Ni-PGE target. Fox Bay is underlain by mafic to ultramafic sills and has the potential to host Cu, Ni, PGE, and chromite mineralization.
Greg Ferron, CEO of Platinex, stated: “The acquisition of the Muskrat Dam Project fits well with our strategy of acquiring large-scale projects in significant greenstone belts in Ontario. This acquisition is being completed on attractive earn-in terms with a low up-front cost. Our initial focus will be to confirm the nature of mineralization at the Axe Lake Property and potential lithium grades through a prospecting and evaluation program.”
Option Agreement Terms
The binding letter of intent provides for Platinex, through its wholly owned subsidiary, Endurance Elements, to acquire a 100% ownership interest in the Muskrat Dam Critical Minerals Project by way of an earn-in option agreement with an arm’s length party.
Pursuant to the Agreement, Platinex will pay the following consideration and work commitments:
Payments:
- C$25,000 paid in cash on closing
- C$25,000 paid in shares within 60 days of closing
- C$25,000 paid in shares on the 1st anniversary
- C$75,000 paid in shares on the 2nd anniversary
- C$100,000 paid in shares on the 3rd anniversary
Work expenditures:
- C$100,000 spent by 1st anniversary
- C$100,000 spent by 2nd anniversary
- C$100,000 spent by 3rd anniversary
Milestone Payments:
- C$50,000 paid in cash upon completion of a successful prospecting and evaluation program confirming lithium grades exceeding 1%
- C$250,000 paid in cash or shares (min. $75,000 in cash) upon completion of an NI 43-101 mineral resource estimate on the Muskrat Dam Project
All share issuances will be based on the 5-day VWAP price at the time of issue and will be subject to a statutory 4 month hold period.
The technical information presented in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Ike Osmani, P. Geo, a qualified person for exploration at the Muskrat Dam Project, as defined by National Instrument 43-101, Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.
Source: https://platinex.com/