Mineral exploration company Patriot Battery Metals (ASX:PMT) has recorded its ‘highest’ grade lithium drill intercept to date at the CV5 Pegmatite, located within the Corvette Property in Quebec, Canada.
The company says drillhole CV22-083 returned 156.9m @ 2.12% lithium oxide (Li2O) including 25m @ 5.04% Li2O, or 5m @ 6.36% Li2O. This hole was drilled as a 100m step-out along strike of the previously drilled CV22-066, which returned 113.1m @ 1.61% Li2O in December 2022.
Hole CV22-083 was completed as part of a 14-hole drilling campaign targeting mineralisation at the eastern and western areas of the currently defined CV5 Pegmatite. The company says step-out drilling at the eastern end of the pegmatite is targeting a near surface, ‘high-grade’ zone previously intersected in 2022.
The company is also witnessing a jump in its share price on the ASX on the back of the announcement, rising 31.43% to $1.150 as of 12.20pm AWST.
Commenting on the results, Patriot Battery Metals Vice President of Exploration Darren Smith says: “It is hard to find words to adequately describe the impressive nature of the lithium mineralisation in drillhole CV22-083. Visual estimates of spodumene abundance may give you a sense, but assays are the true measure and have certainly astounded with this hole.
As we move east, we are defining a significant high-grade zone at a coarse drill spacing of 50m to 100m. The recently commenced winter drill program will continue to probe and delineate this area ahead of an initial Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) planned for the first half of 2023.
“As we move east, we are defining a significant high-grade zone at a coarse drill spacing of 50m to 100m”
Drillhole CV22-083 has raised the bar even higher with respect to the considerable potential at CV5 as we continue to delineate it, and by extension, the rest of the CV lithium district held by the company that has yet to be drill tested.
Patriot reports CV22-093 was completed as a 100m step-out easterly along strike of CV22-083 targeting an extension of the ‘high-grade’ zone. The assays for this hole remain to be reported, however the company notes the hole intersected spodumene pegmatite over 52.2m.
This drillhole also undercut drillhole CV22-066 and extended the ‘high-grade’ mineralised zone at depth at this location, which remains open. Patriot says the first series of drillholes at the recently started winter drill program will continue to probe this ‘high-grade’ zone moving eastward.
Patriot says the CV5 Pegmatite may extend under the relatively thin glacial till cover to the CV13 Pegmatite cluster located 4.3km to the west-southwest. Furthermore, the company hopes to conduct drill tests to confirm this during the 2023 drill campaign.
In 2022, Patriot completed 95 NQ-sized drillholes totalling 27,470m at targets along the CV Lithium Trend, with 80 of these holes being completed at CV5 for 24,709m. This drilling ‘significantly’ expanded the lithium mineralisation.
Patriot Battery Metals is a Canadian mineral exploration company focused on acquiring and developing its portfolio of assets prospective for battery, base and precious metals.
The company currently holds its flagship Corvette Property, and the Pontax Lithium-Gold Property in Quebec, as well as the Hidden Lake Lithium Property in the Northwest Territories, and the Freeman Creek Gold Property in Idaho, US.
Images: Patriot Battery Metals Inc. CDI
