MGX Minerals Inc. (“MGX” or the “Company”) (CSE:XMG) (FKT:1MG) (OTCQB:MGXMF) is pleased to report that joint venture partner Power Metals Corp. (“Power Metals”) has received initial assay results from drilling at the Case Lake property near Cochrane, Ontario. As reported by Power Metals, drilling has intersected three wide high-grade lithium (Li) and tantalum (Ta) mineralized intervals including:
- PWM-17-08: 1.94 % Li2O and 323.75 ppm Ta over 26.0 m
- PWM-17-09: 1.23 % Li2O and 148.0 ppm Ta over 16.0 m
- PWM-17-10: 1.74 % Li2O and 245.96 ppm Ta over 15.06 m
Lithium grades are up to 3.29 % Li2O over 1.0 m in PWM-17-08 in the quartz core with coarse-grained pale green spodumene.
Drill hole collar locations are given in Power Metals press release dated Sept. 21, 2017. Assay highlights for assays > 0.9 % Li2O holes PWM-17-01 to 12 are given in Table 1.
While the focus of Power Metals exploration team is lithium mineralization in the form of spodumene, Case Lake pegmatites contain additional tantalum mineralization in the form of Ta-oxide minerals. PWM-17-08 has 2.50 % Li2O and 1770.0 ppm Ta over 1.0 m. The lithium and tantalum mineralization in the Main Dyke is present in the intermediate zones and quartz core with coarse-grained pale green spodumene (Figures 1 and 2). Tantalum metal is used in the manufacture of electrolytic capacitors for the electronics industry and is used in mobile phones, personal computers, video game systems and automotive electronics.
Photos accompanying this announcement are available at
http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/a6466aa4-29e8-4a78-bf97-70933a1684e1
http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/49f4ff42-fc12-4e94-8b69-6c4823b6e6c5
Table 1 Assay highlights for PWM-17-01 to PWM-17-12
| Drill Hole No. | From (m) | To (m) | Interval (m) | Li2O (%) | Ta (ppm) |
| PWM-17-01 | 21.95 | 22.90 | 0.95 | 2.52 | 89.40 |
| PWM-17-01 | 25.50 | 26.50 | 1.00 | 2.50 | 154.00 |
| PWM-17-01 | 44.00 | 44.70 | 0.70 | 2.27 | 242.00 |
| PWM-17-01 | 47.00 | 47.80 | 0.80 | 1.06 | 119.00 |
| PWM-17-02 | assays pending | ||||
| PWM-17-03 | assays pending | ||||
| PWM-17-04 | 105.82 | 107.00 | 1.18 | 1.97 | 211.00 |
| PWM-17-05 | assays pending | ||||
| PWM-17-06 | assays pending | ||||
| PWM-17-07 | assays pending | ||||
| PWM-17-08 | 20.00 | 46.00 | 26.00 | 1.94 | 323.75 |
| including | 21.00 | 23.00 | 2.00 | 2.80 | 39.05 |
| and | 26.00 | 27.00 | 1.00 | 1.83 | 738.00 |
| and | 39.00 | 40.00 | 1.00 | 2.50 | 1770.00 |
| and | 41.00 | 42.00 | 1.00 | 3.29 | 73.70 |
| PWM-17-09 | 29.00 | 45.00 | 16.00 | 1.23 | 148.40 |
| including | 30.00 | 33.00 | 3.00 | 2.73 | 34.37 |
| and | 33.00 | 40.00 | 7.00 | 1.09 | 274.14 |
| and | 38.00 | 39.00 | 1.00 | 2.73 | 98.30 |
| PWM-17-10 | 6.26 | 7.00 | 0.74 | 0.94 | 39.40 |
| PWM-17-10 | 35.00 | 50.06 | 15.06 | 1.74 | 245.96 |
| including | 35.00 | 36.00 | 1.00 | 3.07 | 28.20 |
| and | 38.00 | 39.00 | 1.00 | 3.11 | 158.00 |
| and | 44.00 | 46.00 | 2.00 | 2.41 | 711.50 |
| PWM-17-10 | 55.00 | 58.00 | 3.00 | 1.39 | 147.77 |
| PWM-17-10 | 74.72 | 75.61 | 0.89 | 0.92 | 324.00 |
| PWM-17-11 | assays pending | ||||
| PWM-17-12 | assays pending | ||||
Drill holes intersected the pegmatite dykes at almost 90 degrees, so intervals are close to true widths.
Power Metals has completed 35 drill holes of a 5000 m drill program to date on the Main, North and South Dykes. The purpose of the drill program is to extend the lithium mineralization in the Main and North Dykes along strike and down dip. Power Metals’ 2017 drill program has extended the Main Dyke spodumene pegmatite zone 250 m to the west of the historic drill holes. The Main Dyke Zone is typically 32-35 m wide close to surface and consists of multiple spodumene pegmatite dykes.
Last week, Power Metals completed drill hole PWM-17-35 which is 30 m west along strike from PWM-17-10. Both holes intersected spodumene in the North Dyke and the Main Dyke. In PWM-17-35, the North Dyke is 6.7 m wide with 10-15% spodumene overall and the Main Dyke Zone is 29.4 m wide and is composed of multiple pegmatite dykes. One of the pegmatite dykes within the Main Dyke Zone has 7.5 m of 25 % spodumene. In comparison, the North Dyke is 7.6 m wide and Main Dyke Zone is 28.22 m wide in PWM-17-10. Visual estimates of spodumene do not necessarily equate to lithium grade in assays. Assays are pending for PWM-17-35.
Dr. Selway, VP of Exploration stated “We are impressed by the widths and grades of the lithium mineralization in the Main Dyke. The tantalum mineralization is a nice extra bonus to the lithium mineralization. We are eager to see the assay results from PWM-17-35, as the drill core is similar to that of PWM-17-10.”
Johnathan More, Chairman of Power Metals stated “We are thrilled from this first batch of assays. This represents a very small portion of holes drilled to date and we are eager to see more results as we receive them from the lab. The high-grade Tantalum is a huge bonus to PWM as we remain focused on the high-grade Lithium.”
Quality Control
The drill core was sampled so that 1 m of the Case Batholith tonalite host rock was sampled followed by 1 m long samples of the pegmatite dyke and 1 m of the Case Batholith. The sampling followed lithology boundaries so that only one lithology unit is within a sample, except for the < 20 cm pegmatite veins in tonalite which were merged into one sample. The drill core samples were delivered to Actlabs preparation lab in Timmins by Power Metals’ geologists. The core was crushed and pulverized in Timmins and then shipped to Actlabs analytical lab in Ancaster which has ISO 17025 certification. Every 20 samples included one external quartz blank, one external lithium standard and one core duplicate. The ore grade Li2O% was prepared by sodium peroxide fusion with analysis by ICP-OES with a detection limit of 0.01 % Li2O.
Case Lake
Case Lake Property is located in Steele and Case townships, 80 km east of Cochrane, NE Ontario close to the Ontario-Quebec border. The Case Lake pegmatite swarm consists of five dykes: North, Main, South, East and Northeast Dykes. The Northeast Dyke contains very coarse-grained spodumene. MGX currently has a 20% working interest in Case Lake with the right to acquire an additional 15%. The Company holds an option to acquire 10,000,000 shares of Power Metals at $0.65 (see press release dated August 2, 2017).
Qualified Persons
Julie Selway, Ph.D., P.Geo. supervised the preparation of the scientific and technical disclosure in this news release. Dr. Selway is the VP of Exploration for Power Metals and the Qualified Person (“QP”) as defined by National Instrument 43-101. Dr. Selway is supervising the exploration program at Case Lake. Dr. Selway completed a Ph.D. on granitic pegmatites in 1999 and worked for about 3 years as a pegmatite geoscientist for the Ontario Geological Survey. Dr. Selway also has twenty-three scientific journal articles on pegmatites. A National Instrument 43-101 report has been prepared on Case Lake Property and filed on July 18, 2017. The technical portions of this press release were reviewed by Andris Kikauka (P. Geo.), Vice President of Exploration for MGX Minerals. Mr. Kikauka is a non-independent Qualified Person within the meaning of National Instrument 43-101 Standards.
About MGX Minerals
MGX Minerals is a diversified Canadian resource and technology company with interests in lithium, magnesium and silicon assets throughout North America. Learn more at www.mgxminerals.com.
Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking information or forward-looking statements (collectively “forward-looking information”) within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking information is typically identified by words such as: “believe”, “expect”, “anticipate”, “intend”, “estimate”, “potentially” and similar expressions, or are those, which, by their nature, refer to future events. The Company cautions investors that any forward-looking information provided by the Company is not a guarantee of future results or performance, and that actual results may differ materially from those in forward-looking information as a result of various factors. The reader is referred to the Company’s public filings for a more complete discussion of such risk factors and their potential effects which may be accessed through the Company’s profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.
Contact Information Jared Lazerson President and CEO Telephone: 1.604.681.7735 Web: www.mgxminerals.com