Benz Mining drills 1.01% Li2O over 26.4 metres at Ruby Hill West, Quebec

Benz Mining Corp. [BZ-TSXV; BNZ-ASX] provided an update on its lithium exploration activities. Assays for the six holes drilled in April 2022 at the 100%-optioned Ruby Hill West Lithium Project in northern Quebec as part of Benz’s maiden lithium drilling have been received and confirm thick high-grade pegmatite as well as the presence of multiple dykes system in the area.

Highlights include a high-grade intercept from near surface in last drill hole of the April 2022 campaign. Assays for RHW22-006 returned: 26.4 metres at 1.01% Li₂O, 355 ppm Ta₂O₅, 980 ppm Cs and 1,601 ppm Rb₂O from 7.4 metres, including 12.7 metres at 1.29% Li₂O, 423 ppm Ta₂O₅, 1,160 ppm Rb₂O and 600 ppm Cs; and 3.7 metres at 2.61% Li₂O, 579 ppm Ta₂O₅, 1,061 ppm Rb₂O and 441 ppm Cs. There is very high-grade (+2.5% Li₂O) with tantalum, rubidium and caesium association.

RHW22-001, 002, 003 and 005 show lithium caesium tantalum (LCT) signatures confirming the presence of multiple dyke systems in the area. Hole RHW22-006 was collared directly into weathered pegmatite. Multiple newly identified outcrops surround the RHW22-006 collar. RHW22-006 potentially not collared optimally to fully test the pegmatite intrusion. Historical 2008 core discovered at the Eastmain site shows unsampled pegmatite intervals mistakenly referenced as granite up to 80m thick

Xavier Braud, CEO, commented: “These results prove that the Ruby Hill West pegmatite we drilled this year carries both grade and thickness. We are currently in the field at Ruby Hill West and Windy Mountain identifying more pegmatite outcrops and stripping the outcrops near last winter’s drilling.

“We have seen some pretty spectacular spodumene mineralisation in outcrop near RHW22-006 collar with single spodumene crystals up to 50cm long. This region has been underexplored and we believe we can find more of those lithium bearing pegmatites, turning Ruby Hill West into a lithium camp for the benefit of Benz shareholders.

“Every campaign we have conducted has been successful and returned high grade gold and now high-grade lithium mineralisation. We will keep exploring and making discoveries in the Upper Eastmain Greenstone Belt, a new frontier area that Benz is bringing to the world’s attention.

“Finding core from holes drilled in 2008 which has unsampled pegmatites is a welcome discovery. This pegmatite shows high rubidium and niobium content on a hand held XRF indicating probable fertility. Sometimes, discoveries are made in the core yard unearthing historical core and looking at it with a fresh eye.”

The Ruby Hill West Lithium Project is a surface occurrence of spodumene bearing LCT pegmatite within the Ruby Hill West Project, located 50km due west of the Eastmain exploration camp. The occurrence was first sampled in 2016 by Eastmain Resources and then by Quebec government geologists in 2018. Only limited sampling was conducted by both groups.

The Eastmain Gold Project, situated on the Upper Eastmain Greenstone Belt in Quebec, currently hosts a NI 43-101 and JORC (2012) compliant resource of 376,000oz at 7.9 g/t gold (Indicated: 236,500oz at 8.2 g/t gold, Inferred: 139,300oz at 7.5 g/t gold). Multiple gold occurrences have been identified by previous explorers over a 12-km long zone along strike from the Eastmain Mine with very limited but highly encouraging testing outside the existing resource area.

Benz Mining is earning a 100% interest in the former producing high-grade Eastmain gold mine, Ruby Hill West and Ruby Hill East Projects in Quebec and owns 100% of the Windy Mountain Project.

At the Eastmain Gold Project, Benz has identified a combination of over 380 modelled in-hole and off-hole DHEM conductors over a strike length of 6km which is open in all directions (final interpretation of some of the conductors still pending).

In 2021, Benz confirmed the presence of visible spodumene in a pegmatite at the Ruby Hill West Project, indicating lithium mineralisation which Benz intends to further explore in 2022.