Balkan Secures Canadian Lithium Project

Balkan Mining and Minerals Ltd (BMM or the Company) (ASX: BMM) is pleased to announce it has secured an exclusive option to acquire up to 100% of the Gorge Lithium exploration project located in the Georgia Lake Area, Thunder Bay North Mining District of Ontario, Canada (the “Gorge Lithium Project” or “Project”).

Highlights

• BMM secures exclusive option to acquire up to 100% of Gorge lithium project located in the Georgia Lake Area, Thunder Bay North Mining District of Ontario, Canada.
• The Project includes two prospective areas identified by historical works which are yet to be systematically explored, Nelson and Koshman, in addition to the wider Project area. Five grab samples have been historically collected and analysed for lithium returning values up to 3.22% Li2O (and an average of 2.24% Li2O).
• The Project is prospective for spodumene pegmatite mineralisation.
• The tenements comprising the Project are part of the larger Georgia Lake pegmatite district which is known to host late-stage pegmatite mineralised deposit types that contain rare elements including lithium, beryllium, tantalum, niobium and tin, including Rock Tech Lithium Inc’s (TSX-V: RCK) Georgia Lake project.
• The Project is well located close to rail networks and a major port and is accessible by road from Thunder Bay, Ontario.
• The option agreement is subject to an exclusive 45 day due diligence period to allow BMM to conduct a detailed review of historic exploration results and conduct its own site visit to evaluate the project in a view to the parties agreeing a definitive option and earn-in agreement.
• In conjunction with the transaction, BMM is to raise up to $1.5 million. Sixty Two Capital has been appointed as lead manager to the capital raising.
• BMM intends to seek shareholder approval in respect of the transaction and capital raising in August 2022.

The Gorge Lithium Project is located approximately 175km to the northeast of the City of Thunder Bay. The Project comprises of 7 active multi-cell mining claims covering a total area of approximately 20.8km2 and is located within the larger Georgia Lake pegmatite district which hosts potential for the discovery of lithium bearing pegmatites.

The Project area is accessible by bitumenised highways and dirt roads from Thunder Bay, proximate to railway networks with an international airport located at Thunder Bay.

The Port of thunder Bay is a major facility that ships a number of commodities and general cargo via the Great Lakes.

Figure 1 – Location of the Gorge Lithium Project

Historical workings carried out in 1955/56 identified up to 40 lithium and beryllium bearing pegmatites exposed in outcrop over an area of approximately 600km2, referred to as the larger Georgia Lake Area.

Follow up field work was carried out in the larger Georgia Lake Area during 2008 with a focus on identifying rare-element pegmatite deposits. During this period, a new pegmatite group referred to as “Gathering Lake Pegmatite Group” was discovered containing both albite-spodumene-type and beryl-type pegmatites.

The most recent field program was completed in 2018 when the presence of lithium bearing mineralisation was confirmed on the Project at the Koshman and Nelson occurrences (Figure 2 and 3). Five grab samples were collected and analysed for lithium and lithium values returned up to 3.22% Li2O (and an average of 2.24% Li2O).

Figure 2 – Location of the Project exploration claims over topo map

The Thunder Bay region of Ontario has been the focus of lithium pegmatite exploration works with the delineation of hard rock lithium deposits including Rock Tech Lithium Inc’s Georgia Lake project in 2021, and Imagine Lithium Inc’s (TSX.V ILI) Jackpot Lithium project and works carried out by Ulta Lithium Inc (TSX.V-ULT) Georgia Lake and Forgan Lake Projects, to name a few.

BMM will have up to 45 days to conduct exclusive due diligence on the group of tenements comprising the Gorge Lithium Project during which time BMM intends to conduct a historic data review on all previous exploration and conduct field reconnaissance work to evaluate the project’s prospectivity and enter into a definitive option and earn-in agreement with Ombabika.

Project Geology

The Georgia Lake area is located within the Quetico Subprovince of the Superior Province of Ontario Canada. The Quetico Subprovince is bounded by the granite-greenstone Wabigoon Subprovince to the north and Wawa Subprovince to the south. The Quetico Subprovince is composed of predominantly metasediments consisting of wacke, iron formation, conglomerate, ultramafic wacke and siltstone, which deposited between 2.70 and 2.69 Ga. The igneous rocks in the Quetico Subprovince include abundant felsic and intermediate intrusions, metamorphosed rare mafic and felsic extrusive rocks and an uncommon suite of gabbroic and ultramafic rocks.

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