Ontario Mineral Inventory

Ontario Geological Survey
Permanent Link to this Record: MDI52G05NW00006

Record: MDI52G05NW00006

General

Commodities

Primary Commodities: Lithium, Rubidium, Tantalum, Cesium

Location

Township or Area: Raleigh Lake Area

Latitude: 49° 24' 45.94"    Longitude: -91° 57' 7.56"

UTM Zone: 15    Easting: 576010   Northing: 5473870    UTM Datum: NAD83

Resident Geologist District: Kenora

NTS Grid: 52G05NW

Point Location Description: N/A

Location Method: Based on Assessment

Access Description: The Raleigh Lake property is located approximately 23 km west of Ignace. The property can be accessed by boat from Raleigh Lake, or via a well maintained network of logging roads that branch south from Highway 17 (TransCanada Highway) approximately 25 km west of Ignace and 3.8 km west of Raleigh Lake Road (Cobblestone Lodge). Upon departing Highway 17, travel 8.7 km south to the "Moose Hide Road" junction and continue to the left. After another 3.1 km, turn east onto logging road 46-02. Approximately 1.5 km from this junction, an old logging road leads north onto the Raleigh Lake property.

Exploration History

1998: Fairservice staked the property and conducted prospecting. Avalon Ventures Ltd. optioned the property and conducted prospecting and sampling. 1999: Avalon conducted prospecting, linecutting and drilled 5 DDH totalling 602 m. 2001: Avalon conducted a lithogeochemical survey and drilled 4 DDH totalling 752 m. 2009: Consolidated Abaddon Resources Inc. conducted a magnetometer survey and drilled 7 DDH totalling 1463.5 m. 2016-18: International Lithium Corp. acquired the property and conducted regional and property scale lithogeochemcial bedrock sampling in combination with an unmanned airborne (“UAV”) magnetometer survey. 2021-22: International Lithium conducted additional lithogeochemical sampling, biogeochemical sampling of tree bark, a prospecting and mapping program, and additional outcrop channel sampling, and drilled 65 DDH totalling 11,003 m. 2023: International Lithium released an NI 43-101 report with a resource estimate.

Assessment Work on File

Geology

Province: Superior

Subprovince: Wabigoon

Belt: Raleigh Lake

Geological Age: Archean  

Geology Comments

Jul 25, 2017 (Therese Pettigrew) - The Raleigh Lake property is situated within the Wabigoon Subprovince of the Superior Province of the Canadian Shield. More specifically, it occurs in the western portion of the central Wabigoon region (CWR). The CWR is characterized by ovoid gneissic domes and elliptical batholiths with screens and small belts of supracrustal rocks. Older foliated and gneissic tonalitic bodies are cut and surrounded by younger massive and foliated granitic bodies forming large-scale dome and basin structures. Minor greenstone belts of relatively low metamorphic grade occur within the CWR. The Indian Lake granitoid batholith is a major feature of the Raleigh Lake area, with smaller bodies, such as the Raleigh Lake Pluton (4x6 kilometres in size), and the Crocker Bay Stock (0.5 x 1.5 kilometres in size) occurring in the immediate vicinity. These stocks are surrounded by mafic metavolcanic rocks ranging from foliated to gneissic flows and fragmentals. To the south and west, the mafic volcanics are in contact with intermediate to felsic flows and fragmental units (AFRI 52G05NW2003). The Raleigh Lake Project falls under the classification of rare-metal pegmatites, further categorized as the albite-spodumene sub-type. The Project contains lithium-caesium-tantalum (“LCT”) pegmatites which are enriched in Li, Cs, Ta, Be, B, F, P, Mn, Ga, Rb, Nb, Sn, and Hf. LCT pegmatites most likely form in orogenic hinterlands related to plate convergence and are consequently hosted in metamorphosed supracrustal rocks such as greenstone belts. The Raleigh Lake Project is hosted within the western Wabigoon subprovince and emplaced upon the Winnipeg River and Marmion greenstone terranes. The Raleigh Lake rare-element pegmatite field is located immediately west of Raleigh Lake, confined to the mafic volcanic portion of the mafic-intermediate volcanic package of the supracrustal greenstone belt. The Project area is situated between the Revell Batholith to the west and the Raleigh Lake Pluton to the east. The property is predominantly underlain by Archean supracrustal rocks of mafic metavolcanic composition and their derived metasedimentary equivalents. These are both underlain and intruded by granitic plutons and batholiths of various ages including the peraluminous (S-type) Revell Lake Batholith. The rare-metal pegmatites are both spatially and genetically related to the Revell Lake Batholith. The extreme southeastern end of the batholith is in contact with the pegmatite hosting metavolcanic rocks. The supracrustal volcanic rocks of the Raleigh Lake Greenstone Belt extend southeasterly over 50 km into the central Wabigoon Subprovince and are truncated in the east by the granitoid White Otter and Indian Batholiths (Ballard, 2023).

Lithology

Lithology Comments

Jul 25, 2017 (Therese Pettigrew) - The Raleigh Lake property is predominantly underlain by Archean supracrustal comprised essentially of mafic metavolcanics and their derived metasedimentary equivalents, which both overlie and are intruded by granitic plutons and batholiths of various ages and chemistry. The metavolcanics comprise the Raleigh Lake greenstone belt, which is intruded by various of these granitoids, including the peraluminous (S-type) Revell Lake batholith. The Revell Lake batholith is believed to exhibit an alteration front which has recently been identified and mapped by the OGS as a "two-mica" granite, and is believed to be parental to the rare element pegmatites of the Raleigh Lake pegmatite field. Regional folding and doming outlined by OGS mapping provide excellent structural traps for potential pegmatite emplacement (AFRI 52G05NW2003).

Mineralization

Mineralization Comments

Jul 25, 2017 (C Ravnaas) - Grab samples from surface yielded 0.05% Ta2O5. Four drill holes intersected Pegmatite 1. Drill hole RL99-01 yielded 0.137% Rb2O and 0.006% Ta2O5 over 8.45m, drill hole RL01-02 yielded 0.585% Rb2O and 0.008% Ta2O5 over 6.30m, drill hole RL-01-04 yielded 0.210% Rb2O and 0.011% Ta2O5 over 5.40m, and drill hole RL01-05 yielded 0.264% Rb2O and 0.009% Ta2O over 7.52m (KAF 52G05NW K-2). Three hundred meters south of previous drilling, Pegmatite 1 was intersected over 3.90m with 0.017% Ta205, 1030-6150 ppm Rb and 118-7520 ppm Li. Several small dikes were located below but only weak mineralization encountered. (KAF 52G05W K-4).

Jul 25, 2017 (Therese Pettigrew) - Numerous occurrences of rare element mineralization, in a zone approximately 1.5 km wide and at least 4 km in length, were described by Breaks (1993) as part of a study on granite-related mineralization in northwestern Ontario. The rare element-bearing minerals identified by Breaks include spodumene, beryl, holmquistite, ixiolite, microlite, bismuthinite, columbite, and tantalite. The pegmatites belong to the albite spodumene sub-type of rare metal pegmatites, which commonly contain tantalum minerals, but are not at the high fractionation end of rare metal pegmatites. Samples from Pegmatite 1 returned assays of 0.172-1.679% Li2O, 0.11-0.40% Ta2O5, 0.131-0.915% Rb2O, and 0.007-0.28% Cs2O. Pegmatite #1 varied in thickness in drillhole from 5.4-8.45 m. In Pegmatite #1, mean Rb2O values range from 0.137% Rb2O in RL99-01 to 0.588% Rb2 0 in RL99-02 over their respective widths. Cesium values are also elevated in most samples, including a mean value of 0.053% Cs2O over 6.3 m in the RL99-02 intersection of Pegmatite #1. Cesium is also migrating into selvedges and exocontacts as evidenced by the high value of 0.552% Cs2O in a mafic xenolith in the same intersection. Tin (Sn) values are generally background (0.001% SnO2) or not detected. Lithium values become elevated, as expected, in the presence of spodumene, with a high value of 2.390% Li2O in RL99-05 (AFRI 52G05NW2003).

Mineral Record Details

References

Article - Granite-Related Mineralization in Northwestern Ontario: I. Raleigh Lake and Separation Rapids (English River) Rare-Element Pegmatite Fields

Publication Number: MP162.022 Date: 1993

Author: Breaks F.W.

Publisher Name: Ontario Geological Survey

Location:

Map - Precambrian Geology, Ignace Area

Publication Number: P3360 Scale: 1:50,000    Date: 1999

Author: Stone D., Hallé J., Chaloux E.C.

Publisher Name: Ontario Geological Survey

Location:

Publication - NI 43-101 Technical Report and Mineral Resource Estimate for the Raleigh Lake Lithium Project, Ignace, Ontario

Publication Number: 2023 NI 43-101 Date: 2023

Author: Ballard, C.

Publisher Name: Nordmin Engineering for International Lithium

Location: SEDAR

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For detailed information regarding this mineral record please contact the Kenora Resident Geologist District Office