North Arrow Minerals Inc. (NAR: TSXV) is pleased to announce that an early summer prospecting and mapping program at its Phoenix Lithium project in Canada's Northwest Territories has resulted in the discovery of spodumene-bearing pegmatites at six new localities and has also outlined significant new exploration potential in the area of the Big Bird Pegmatite. The project is located approximately 60 km east of existing winter road infrastructure that services the Diavik and Ekati diamond mines.
In the Big Bird area, a new spodumene-bearing pegmatite has been identified sub-parallel to, and less than 200 m to the southwest of the 1,200 m long Big Bird pegmatite. It is uncertain if the new pegmatite is a discrete body or represents the southern limb of a tight southeastern vergent fold in the Big Bird pegmatite. The new zone is defined by two pegmatite outcrops containing 15-20% spodumene. The outcrops are located over 900 m apart and are coincident with a well defined northwest, southeast trending magnetic low. The majority of this magnetic anomaly is located beneath a shallow lake and its southeastern extent is primarily overburden covered. The northwesterly outcrop occurrence is located at the northwestern shoreline of the lake and the southeasterly occurrence is located in an area of thin glacial till cover, proximal to the thickest portion (>80 m) of the Big Bird pegmatite. The width of this new pegmatite is unknown, but the geophysical signature suggests it could locally be up to 40 m wide. In addition to this new pegmatite, a number of granodiorite occurrences that were previously interpreted to constrain the width of the northwestern portion of the Big Bird pegmatite have been reinterpreted as transported boulders. This reinterpretation could serve to significantly increase the width of the Big Bird pegmatite along its entire strike length. A revised geologic map of the Big Bird area is presently being compiled.
Additional prospecting within the Phoenix project area has been successful in identifying new spodumene-bearing pegmatite occurrences at six previously unrecognized localities. Including the Big Bird occurrence, this brings the total number of lithium pegmatite localities within the Phoenix project to eight. An additional three mineral claims, totaling 6,542 acres were staked to cover three of the newly discovered spodumene-bearing dykes. A total of 59 prospecting samples were collected and have been submitted for analysis. North Arrow is currently planning a follow up summer drilling program intended to define the orientation and depth extent of the Big Bird pegmatite.
The Company is also pleased to announce it has concluded an option agreement to evaluate the lithium potential of an approximately 115 acre land parcel located in North Carolina. Initial prospecting of this parcel has identified a series of spodumene-bearing pegmatites. Five of six grab samples collected from the property have returned between 0.6% Li2O and 2.5% Li2O. This acquisition is part of the Company's ongoing efforts to identify and acquire additional North American lithium exploration opportunities to supplement its wholly owned Phoenix (NWT) and Torp (Nunavut) projects.
North Arrow's exploration programs are conducted under the supervision of Gordon Clarke, P.Geol. (NT&NU), Vice President, Exploration for North Arrow and a qualified person under NI 43-101. All samples from the field programs are submitted to Acme Analytical Laboratories in Vancouver for analysis. Samples are subjected to a 4 acid digestion and analysis for 40 elements using a combination of inductively coupled plasma (ICP) emission spectrometry and ICP mass spectrometry methods. Laboratory inserted duplicates and standards provided optimum precision and accuracy.
North Arrow Minerals Inc.
/s/ "D. Grenville Thomas"
D. Grenville Thomas
President and CEO
For further information, please contact:
D. Grenville Thomas
President and CEO
Tel: 604-668-8355
Email: [email protected]
Gordon Clarke
Vice President, Exploration
Tel: 867-873-8483
Website: www.northarrowminerals.com
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