- Pacific North West Capital (PFN) acquires 5th, 100% owned Lithium Project
- The Lithman East Project is approximately 6.5 km to the east of the Tanco Mine site, in southeast Manitoba
- The Tanco Mine was Canada’s largest and only producer of Spodumene, Tantalum and Cesium, producing from the Tanco Pegmatite
- Spodumene is mined from Pegmatites and is one of the primary Lithium ore minerals in Hard Rock Lithium mines
- To date this brings the total amounts of PFN’s claims in the Winnipeg River Pegmatite Field to 33, for a total area of 6,181 hectares (15,274 acres), making the company the largest area land holder in the Pegmatite field
- The project is adjacent to and to the east of claims currently held by Tanco
July 5, 2016 Vancouver, Canada – Pacific North West Capital Corp. (“PFN”, the “Company”) (TSX.V: PFN; Frankfurt: P7J.F; OTCQB: PAWEF announces acquisition of a fifth Lithium Project in southeast Manitoba, through ground staking. The project is held by Lithium Canada, a 100% wholly owned subsidiary of PFN.
The Lithman East Project is situated approximately 6.5 km to the east of the Tanco Mine, which currently is producing Cesium Formate, a completion fluid for the petroleum industry, with Cesium extracted from the Tanco Pegmatite. The Tanco Pegmatite was discovered in the 1920s on the west shores of Bernic Lake. The mine went into production in 1969 and is still producing today. Previously, the Tanco Mine produced Tantalum and Spodumene (a primary Lithium ore mineral in Hard Rock Lithium mines). The mine was a Lithium mineral concentrate producer from 1986, until operations were suspended in 2009, and a Tantalum mineral concentrate producer until March 2013, when operation of the Tantalum circuit ceased. The Tanco Mine is operated by the Tantalum Mining Corporation of Canada (a division of the Cabot Corporation) and was previously North America’s largest and sole producer of Spodumene, Tantalum and Cesium. The 100% owned Lithman East Project consists of 12 claims for a total area of 2,490 hectares (6,153 acres), situated east and adjacent to mineral claims held by the Tantalum Mining Corporation of Canada.
The project area is located in the Bird River Greenstone Belt and was staked to cover portions of several Pegmatite groups in the Winnipeg River Pegmatite Field. Claims cover portions of the Bernic Lake, Rush Lake, and Birse Lake Pegmatite Groups. The Tanco Pegmatite is associated with the Bernic Lake Pegmatite Group of the Winnipeg River Pegmatite Field. Historically, numerous Pegmatites have been mapped in the region, but remain under explored. Field work is being planned to explore the area during the summer and fall of 2016.
Lithium Canada Development Inc. (100% wholly owned Subsidiary of Pacific North West Capital); total land holding in SE Manitoba as of July 2016: 6,181 hectares (15,274 acres).
The Tanco Pegmatite is not exposed at surface, except for under Bernic Lake. It is an extremely fractionated, rare-metal, complex type-Petalite subgroup, LCT (Lithium-Cesium-Tantalum) Pegmatite hosted in a late-stage, subvolcanic Gabbro. Current NI43-101 compliant resource calculations are not available for the Tanco Pegmatite. Academic publications have estimated the size of the deposit to be up to approximately 57 million tonnes. The last published mineral reserves (end of 1992) were 1.075 million tonnes of 0.12% Ta2O5, 3.5 million tonnes of 2.7% LiO2, and 315,000 tonnes of 23.3% Cs2O.
PFN considers the Lithman East Project to have the potential to host additional Lithium-bearing Pegmatites similar to others found in the region. The area has strong infrastructure, with active mining. The staking of this additional ground increases PFN’s claims in the Winnipeg River Pegmatite Field to 33, for a total of 6,181 hectares (15,274 acres). Lithman East Project is situated approximately 1.5 km to the southwest of the Lithium North Project, 5.5 km north of the Lithium One Project, and 9 km east of the Lithman West Project. The project has excellent infrastructure and is located approximately 150 km (93 miles) northeast of the provincial capital, Winnipeg. The recent staking efforts by the company have allowed Lithium Canada and PFN to become the largest area land holders in the Winnipeg River Pegmatite Field, in southeast Manitoba.
Further announcements with regard to joint venture partners and exploration plans will be forthcoming.
About The Company’s Lithium Division
The company’s new Lithium Division will focus on the acquisition, exploration and development of Lithium Projects in Canada. In the United States the company will use its wholly owned U.S.A subsidiary to acquire and develop projects in active mining camps in Nevada, Arizona and California.
Management believes that these New Age Metals, Lithium, PGMs and Rare Earths, have robust macro trends with surging demands and limited supply. Going forward, this new division will explore for the minerals needed to fuel the demand for energy storage and other core 21st Century Technologies.
The company has a growing portfolio of Lithium projects. The Clayton Valley Forks Li Project in Nevada is a recent Lithium Brine Project acquired by the company (PFN News Releases April 25th, 2016 and May 9th, 2016). The company also has Hard Rock Lithium projects in Canada (PFN News Releases April 21st, 2016 and May 24th, 2016).
Lithium and Platinum group metal prices have improved dramatically in recent months. Lithium supplies remain in deficit, relative to their demand. Both metals groups are used for the expanding worldwide automobile industry (conventional and electric). In the case of PGMs, demand is increasing for autocatalysts, a key component for reducing toxic emissions for automotive, gasoline and diesel engines. Regarding Lithium, there is an ever increasing demand for batteries in cellphones, laptops, electric cars, solar storage, wireless charging and renewable energy products.
About the company’s Platinum Group Metals Division
Achievements to date and future plans for River Valley are outlined below as follows:
- 1.PFN currently has 100% ownership in the River Valley Project, subject to a 3% NSR, with options to buy down;
- 2.Completed exploration and development programs on the River Valley property include more than 600 holes drilled since year 2000 and several mineral resource estimates and metallurgical studies;
- 3.Results for the current (2012) mineral resource estimate are below;
- 4.2015 drill program confirms new high grade T2 discovery
- 5.Exploration and development plans outlined for 2016
- 6.Ongoing strategic partner search for River Valley Project
- 7.Results for the most recent Metallurgical Testwork Study are summarized below:
– Prepared by Tetra Tech (Wardrop)
– High Confidence: Measured plus Indicated = 72% of total
– Reported on PdEq basis: Pd=40% & Pt=20% of the payable metals
– Pd to Pt ratio = 2.5:1; Cu to Ni ratio = 3:1
– High Grade potential, particularly in the north part of River Valley deposit
– Resources under evaluation for development potential as open pit mining operation
- 8.Results for the 2015 discovery drill program on the T2 target are as follows:
– Drill hole intercepts much higher than the average grade of current mineral resource estimate
– Possible new mineralized zone at the north end of the River Valley deposit
– Show potential to take the River Valley PGM Project in a new direction
– More drilling required
- 9. Exploration and Development Plans for 2016:
- -Mineral prospecting and geological mapping on surface-Drill programs targeted to add more higher grade-Geological interpretation and 2D/3D modeling of all drill and surface results
-Application to the OPA’s Junior Exploration Assistance Program (JEAP) for 33% refund
of all exploration expenditures up to $300,000.
- -Ongoing Strategic Partner Search for River Valley
QUALIFIED PERSON
The contents contained herein that relates to Exploration Results or Mineral Resources is based on information compiled, reviewed or prepared by Dr. Bill Stone, Principal Consulting Geoscientist for Pacific Northwest Capital. Dr. Stone is the Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 and has reviewed and approved the technical content.
On behalf of the Board of Directors
” Harry Barr ”
Harry Barr
Chairman and CEO
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Cautionary Note Regarding Forward Looking Statements. This release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. These statements may differ materially from actual future events or results and are based on current expectations or beliefs. For this purpose, statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. In addition, forward-looking statements include statements in which the Company uses words such as “continue”, “efforts”, “expect”, “believe”, “anticipate”, “confident”, “intend”, “strategy”, “plan”, “will”, “estimate”, “project”, “goal”, “target”, “prospects”, “optimistic” or similar expressions. These statements by their nature involve risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially depending on a variety of important factors, including, among others, the Company’s ability and continuation of efforts to timely and completely make available adequate current public information, additional or different regulatory and legal requirements and restrictions that may be imposed, and other factors as may be discussed in the documents filed by the Company on SEDAR (www.sedar.com), including the most recent reports that identify important risk factors that could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements. The Company does not undertake any obligation to review or confirm analysts’ expectations or estimates or to release publicly any revisions to any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. Investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.