Sokoman, Benton confirm Newfoundland lithium find
Sokoman Minerals Corp. [SIC-TSXV, SICNF-OTCQB] and Benton Resources Inc. [BEX-TSXV] said Friday they have confirmed the first high-grade lithium discovery in Newfoundland.
News of find, which is located on the Golden Hope joint venture in southwestern Newfoundland, comes after the companies formed a strategic alliance to jointly acquire and explore gold opportunities in the Maratime province.
Their primary aim was to show there is a lot more gold to be found beyond recent discoveries by Sokomon, Marathon Gold Corp. [MOZ-TSX, OTC-MGDPF], New Found Gold Corp. [NFG-TSXV], and others.
However, the newly formed alliance paid off in an unexpected way on when the joint venture recently announced what is believed to be the first discovery of significant lithium mineralization on the island of Newfoundland
Lithium was discovered on the Golden Hope project, one of three joint venture properties that have recently been acquired by the alliance. The other two are Grey River and Kepenkeck. Golden Hope was originally staked for gold.
A team of executives, including Benton President and CEO Stephen Stares and director Michael Stares, along with Sokomon President and CEO Timothy Froude identified a swarm of lithium-bearing pegmatite dikes while visiting the Golden Hope project.
They collected three grab samples over a 110-metre width across the dykes. Two of the samples returned 1.95% Li20 and 0.49% Li20, believed to be the first discovery of significant lithium mineralization on the island of Newfoundland.
On Friday, the companies said they have released analyses for 35 of 58 follow-up samples from the recently discovered swarm. The 35 grab and chip samples were collected over a 1.0-2.0-kilometre area over a swarm of poorly-exposed pegmatite and apelite dykes.
“The follow-up sampling has confirmed that the pegmatites carry significant lithium values, the first significant occurrence of lithium documented in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada,” the companies said in a press release Friday.
They went on to say that 31.4% of the samples returned values of 62.1% Li20. Additional results are pending (23 samples) along a 1.0-kilometre strike of pegmatites.
Of the 35 samples, 11 returned values of greater than 1% Li20 with greater than 1% Li20, with three greater than 2% Li20, and a high of 2.37% Li20. The dominant lithium-bearing mineral appears to be spodumene
While continuing to explore the pegmatites for lithium and associated elements, the claims were originally staked for gold and the companies are presently processing and merging recently-flown airborne data, with pre-existing data to highlight gold targets on the 750 square kilometre property.
Meanwhile, on Friday, Sokoman rose 1.5% or $0.005 to 34 cents on volume of 209,850. The shares trade in a 52-week range of 78 cents and 12 cents.
Benton eased 2.3% or $0.005 to 21 cents on light volume. The shares trade in a 52-week range of 25 cents and 13.5 cents.