Balkan Mining and Minerals’ preliminary soil sampling at Gorge Lithium has returned heavy anomalous levels of lithium, caesium, and tantalum and outlined multiple target areas highly prospective for lithium-bearing pegmatites at the Ontario project.
Acquired in a deal ahead of the regional lithium land rush, last year’s Channel sampling at Gorge returned remarkable results up to 3.75 per cent lithium oxide from the Koshman and Nelson pegmatite showings, and a preliminary program has now been successful at confirming targets for drill testing at both while further supporting historical data.
Balkan Managing Director Ross Cotton said the results backed up last year’s success and reinforced confidence on its asset’s emerging potential.
Our technical team have integrated this data to refine priority targets for drill testing as we build on the momentum of our 2023 field season, not only at Gorge but also in particular our Ontario Project portfolio,” Mr Cotton said.
Assays are now pending from expanded sampling which covered a total regional area of around five square kilometres, and as Canada warms up into summer, Balkan is preparing an inaugural drilling campaign on high priority targets at both Gorge and Tango projects while it begins exploring the newly acquired Barbara Lake Project.
Thunder Bay lithium
Originally formed around mineral exploration projects in Serbia, Balkan has moved on from its namesake and heeded the call to lithium from the Great White North, establishing its tenements with an early mover’s advantage near some of the region’s most eminent lithium assets.
While there is still only one operating lithium mine in Canada, Rock Tech Lithium and Green Technology Metals both expect to begin operations near Balkan projects in 2025. Rock Tech expect to produce 100,000 tonnes from a modest initial investment – and one Canadian company has purchased land to bring a lithium processing plant to Thunder Bay.
