LDG Lithium Project
North Arrow’s exploration programs are conducted under the direction of President and CEO, Ken Armstrong, P.Geo., a Qualified Person under NI 43-101. Mr. Armstrong has reviewed and approved all information posted on this page that is of a scientific or technical nature.
Location: ~15 km southeast of Lac de Gras, north of MacKay Lake.
Size: 148,546 hectares
Ownership: 100%
Stage: Delineation drilling to determine size and mineralogy
Closest Infrastructure: <5km from Tibbit to Contwoyto Ice Road (Lac de Gras Winter Road); <2km from older alignment of road; ~20 km from Diavik Mine.
The area that makes up the LDG Project consists of 149,000 hectares of mineral leases and claims. Portions of it have been within the company since inception in 2007, with additional area brought in through arrangements with Harry Winston and Chris Jennings, in 2011 and 2012, respectively, led to the JV's full land package. The latest owner of the Ekati Mine, Burgundy Diamond Mines, received the LDG JV interest as part of their 2023 Ekati purchase but elected to focus solely on mining and not to continue participating in the JV. North Arrow announced the acquisition of the 100% interest in LDG on June 29th, 2023.
What fueled North Arrow's revitalized interest in the area was a paper version of a Geological Survey of Canada map originally completed in the 1940s and found within NAR's archives . Apparently left out of the digitization of government supported geological mapping were some lithium showings in the form of spodumene bearing pegmatites in an area with the LDG landholdings and closely located with respect to the winter ice road that services the Ekati and Diavik diamond mines.
Two short exploration programs were conducted in the summer of 2023. A week-long reconaissance and groundtruthing program based out of a fly-camp near the mapped showings was announced on July 13, 2023 and led to the discovery and sampling of four pegmatites of significant size, two of which, SD2 and SD4 were determined to contain signifcant lithium mineralization, as announced on September 18, 2023.
Based on mapping of low-relief outcrop exposures, SD2 and SD4 are interpreted as steeply dipping (75-80 degrees) feldspar-quartz-muscovite-spodumene pegmatites, estimated at 10-20 m wide and over 400 m in strike length. The pegmatites are located approximately 2 km apart and remain open below overburden along strike.
Some additional Li showings, also from the GSC map and located further to the southeast led to discovery of the MK1 pegmatite and the staking of North Arrow's MacKay Lithium Project., located southeast of MacKay Lake.
Forest fires throughout August and early September led to the evacuation of Yellowknife made transporting and staffing a drill for a planned drill program at LDG impossible for September. A two-week program consisting of ground geophysics, high-resolution drone imaging, mapping, sampling, and prospecting was fit in before the snow arrived and announced as completed on October 12, 2023. The resulting data from the program is being used to guide and plan a 2024 drill program. Assay results from rock samples taken during the program were annonced on December 4th, 2023 and supported the decision to drill in 2024.
