Zoro Lithium Project
The Zoro Lithium Project occurs in east-central Manitoba 20km east of the historic mining town of Snow Lake.
The property consists of 16 claims with a total of 3,603 hectares and is proximal to excellent infrastructure and an experienced labour pool.
Exploration has been rapidly advanced on the property with an integrated program of prospecting, innovative soil geochemical surveys and five diamond drill programs totaling 8,406 m in 60 holes.
You can read about the Mineralogical Characterization and Preliminary Beneficiation of the Zoro Lithium Project here or below
Investment Highlights
Work programs at Zoro in 2016 with prospecting and sampling of the then seven known dykes, confirming the lithium content of the spodumene bearing pegmatites.
In 2017, the project advanced rapidly due to the positive results yielded from continued drilling of Dyke 1.
In 2018, a winter drill program led to the discovery of a previously unknown spodumene-bearing pegmatite dyke, Dyke 8 (D8). The discovery of this additional dyke was made during the drill-testing of a Mobile Metal Ions (MMI) soil geochemical anomaly and brought the total of known high-grade dykes on the Zoro Lithium Property to eight.
Subsequent drilling has stepped out to cover additional MMI anomalies. The most recent campaign has brought the total number of dykes to thirteen.
Size is one of the keys to defining an economic lithium deposit. Far started with the Zoro 1 Claim and added adjacent claims covering the other known dykes in the area, expanding the property from 0.5 square kilometres to 3.0 square kilometres, a 600% increase.
Abundant overburden cover characterises much of the property and the pegmatite dykes do not have a recognisable geophysical signature. Thirteen spodumene-bearing pegmatite dykes have been discovered to date by drilling Mobile Metal Ions (MMI) soil geochemical anomalies including a new high grade discovery at the D8 dyke, which now has a strike length of at least 90 m, with down dip intersections of 100 m and true thickness of up to 15m and open in all directions. Numerous MMI anomalies remain untested and only one-third of the property has been explored. An inferred resource of 1,074,567 tonnes at 0.91% Li2O has been defined at a 0.3% Li2O cut-off for D1. Metallurgical studies on D1 mineralization are ongoing.
Light green to white spodumene mineralization occurs within laterally and vertically extensive pegmatite dykes hosted by a variety of lithologies. There are no preferred host rocks for the dykes The spodumene-bearing pegmatite dykes on the property strike northwest with steep dips and crosscut the regional foliation at a low angle. They are up to 800 m in length and 40 m in drill intersection. The dykes tend to be concentric in internal structure and constituent minerals include potassium feldspar, quartz, spodumene and black tourmaline. Future programs will focus on prospecting the 2000 hectares that have yet to be explored followed by soil geochemical surveys and diamond drilling. Prospecting will be aided by mechanical stripping where necessary.
Mineral Development in Manitoba
Zoro is well situated in Manitoba with the potential for development. Manitoba is home to multiple rare metal deposits, including the world-class Tanco lithium-cesium-rare metal pegmatite at Bernic Lake. Manitoba has a supportive, pro-business climate, mineral exploration assistance programs, and excellent access to geoscience and exploration data that will assist the company to advance its projects in the province. (NOTE: Mineral exploration supportive programs have now been cancelled by the Manitoba Conservative government).
Additionally, the province has stable and well-developed mining and transportation infrastructure. The hydro line to Snow Lake is 5 km south of the property and the small historic gold mining community of Herb Lake is located about 10 km southwest of the property. A railway line is located at Wekusko, approximately 20 km south of Herb Lake. Electricity rates in Manitoba are reasonably priced and comparable to Québec, and less than in Ontario.The projects in Northern Quebec are hundreds of kilometres from the railhead at Chibougamau. Manitoba’s infrastructure can lead to lower project development costs, lower threshold tonnage to support project development, and less time to reach this threshold.
Tantalum + Niobium — Increasing the potential value of Zoro
High-grade drill intercept of tantalum (0.117 % Ta2O5 or 927 ppm tantalum; see November 1, 2017 news release [link]) accompanied by elevated tantalum and niobium in samples of drill core, outcrop and soils has intrigued the company.
Currently, the significance of the elevated tantalum and niobium is unknown but it will be closely assessed as Far Resource’s exploration continues.
Tantalum is a rare, hard, blue-gray, corrosion-resistant metal that is widely used as a minor component in alloys. Tantulum is inert, making it a valuable substance for laboratory equipment and a substitute for platinum.
Tantalum exists alongside niobium, a chemically similar metal, which is also valuable. It is mainly used in alloys and is the largest metal in special steel, which is used in gas pipelines. The stability of niobium-containing super alloys at high temperatures makes such alloys an important component in jet and rocket engines. Niobium is also used in various superconducting materials including the superconducting magnets of MRI scanners. Other applications of niobium include welding, nuclear industries, electronics, optics, numismatics, and jewellery.
Copyright FAR Resources Ltd. 2020