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Midas Minerals makes maiden entrance into Canada with 102sq.km purchase

Mon 13 Feb 23, 11:28am (AEST)
A Canadian flag flies high atop a flagpole carried by the wind in the foreground of an alpine horizon beneath a cloudy but pleasant sky
Source: Unsplash

Key Points

  • Midas Minerals is off to Canada with new project in the Ontario region
  • Project is made up of several tenements
  • One of those tenements was drilled in 1965 by the Canadian government which identified high grade lithium oxide

WA-focused junior explorer Midas Minerals (ASX:MM1) announced its move into Canada with the purchase of land known to contain lithium-bearing rocks at surface.

The company has acquired a lithium project 102sq.km in size called Greenbush (not to be confused with the WA-based Greenbushes mine.) 

The Canadian government has previously drill-tested rocks at surface within the tenements, also known as “outcrops.” 

Drilling at those outcrop targets returned one result of a 15m long core equivalent grading 1.25% lithium oxide (Li2O). This is considered “high-grade” as per Next Investors classification for lithium grades over 1%.

What’s more, the outcrops in question are spodumene pegmatite, the holy grail of hard-rock lithium mining.  

Since 1965, not much work has been carried out, barring some rockchip sampling in 2009. 

Powerful potential 

“The Greenbush spodumene pegmatite outcropping highlights the potential of the project area due to the fact no drilling has been undertaken within 5km of the spodumene pegmatite outcrop,” Midas chief Mark Calderwood said. 

“The southern Greenbush tenement group contains numerous small to very large pegmatite outcrops. Planned outcrop sampling should determine vectoring of mineralogy within these pegmatite swarms to prioritise new lithium-bearing targets.” 

Tenements comprising the project are nearby or overlying the Greenbush Lake shear band zone and the Columbia River Fault, both types of geological formations which often provide the right conditions for mineralisation through time.

Fieldwork to begin imminently

Midas is paying C$130,000 over twelve months for 100% of rights, and must spend C$5,000 (A$5.4k) on exploration in the next month 

The company currently in ownership of Greenbush (an entity called 2060014 Ontario Inc) retains a 1% Net Smelter Royalty (NSR) which can be purchased by Midas “at any time” for a further C$500,000. 

Any JORC-compliant resource boasting over 5m tonnes of ore at a grade of 1% lithium oxide “or equivalent” will also trigger a further payment by Midas to Ontario Inc.

Midas Minerals' three month charts
Midas Minerals' three month charts
Disclaimer: Market Index helps small-cap ASX listed companies connect with Australian investors through clear and concise articles on key developments. Midas was a client at the time of publishing. All coverage contains factual information only and should not be interpreted as an opinion or financial advice.

 

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Written By

Jonathon Davidson

Finance Writer

Jonathon is a journalism graduate and avid market watcher with exposure to governance, NGO and mining environments. He was most recently hired as an oil and gas specialist for a trade publication.

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