Li-FT Power Ltd. Jan. 29 announced the start of its 2024 winter drilling program, aiming for 18,600 meters in 100 holes to expand six pegmatites on the company's Yellowknife Lithium project in Northwest Territories, Canada.

"We are excited to have the drills turning again for the winter program at our Yellowknife Lithium Project," said Li-FT Power CEO Francis MacDonald. "This winter's program will focus on resource expansion, stepping outwards from spodumene mineralization defined in our summer 2023 program."

Still in the midst of receiving the remaining assays from its 2023 program, Li-FT has begun another monumental program for its second year in mineral exploration on Northwest Territories' historic Yellowknife Pegmatite Province (YPP).

Following up on the 34,200 meters of drilling completed in 198 holes last year, the 2024 campaign begins with a roughly 18,600-meter winter program that will be more informed as the company continues to trace the lithium-rich pegmatites beneath the frosty tundra of Northwest Territories.

"Our intent for the 2024 winter program is to systematically drill off six of the spodumene pegmatites in our portfolio to 100 meters by 100-meter centers," said MacDonald. "The planned meterage is focused in areas that we feel will add the most tonnage for the least number of drilled meters."

Assembling a 141,572-hectare (349,832 acres) land package that covers some of the most prospective targets found within the YPP, the Yellowknife Lithium project covers at least 14 pegmatites on mineral leases practically a stone's throw from NWT's capital, Yellowknife.

Consisting of 11 properties divided into two groups – five in a road-accessible area immediately east of Yellowknife called the Road Accessible Group and comprised of the Nite, BIG, Fi, Ki, and Shorty pegmatites, and a cluster of six about 50 kilometers (30 miles) further east called the Further Afield Group and comprising the Echo, Hid, Mut, Bin, Lens, and Bet pegmatites – Li-FT has been rolling out assays from these targets consistently for the past few months.

For its 2024 winter program, Li-FT plans to drill 2,945 meters over 16 holes at the BIG East pegmatite. At surface, this pegmatite occurs as a 1.8-kilometer (1.1 miles) long northeast-trending dyke swarm up to 100 meters wide. These holes are planned to vertical depths of up to 350 meters, with overall drilling at BIG East designed to focus on extending the grades and widths discovered in 2023.

The company plans to complete an additional 8,390 meters of drilling in 54 holes at Echo, a pegmatite that immediately caught the attention of Li-FT during the 2023 drilling. Echo comprises a steeply dipping, northwest-trending feeder dyke that splits into a fanning splay of moderate to gently dipping dykes at its northwest end. The 2024 drill plan here will test the most northwesterly part of the splay structure along 350 meters of strike as well as the feeder dyke along 550 meters of strike to the southeast.

In addition to BIG East and Echo, the company plans to drill 3,395 meters in 18 holes at the Fi Main and Fi Southwest pegmatites to vertical depths up to 325 meters.

The Fi Main dyke is located 250 meters to the northeast of Fi Southwest and crops out over a distance of 1.5 kilometers (0.9 miles). Drilling at these targets is planned to extend mineralization along 1,000 meters of strike length to approximately 150 meters vertically below surface, while a second drill at the north end of the dyke will focus on extending the mineralization another 325 meters to the northeast to build on results from 2023.

Li-FT Power Ltd.

Click image for larger map of the Yellowknife Lithium Project.

Finally, Li-FT aims for the remaining 3,860 meters to be drilled in 21 holes at the Ki and Shorty pegmatites to vertical depths up to 250 meters below surface. Ki is a north-northwest trending corridor of dykes that extends over 1,000 meters on surface and dips steeply to the southwest, while Shorty, located about five kilometers (3.1 miles) south of Ki, consists of three 20-meter-wide dykes that dip steeply to the west-northwest.

Drilling at these targets aims for an additional 500 meters of strike length on the corridor stepping out from some of Ki's best holes in 2023, while two holes are planned at the northeast end of Shorty to complete the last drill fence in that direction, and additional holes are planned to extend near-surface intersections at its southern end.