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Brixton Metals (TSXV: BBB) says the first batch of drill results from its Langis cobalt project in northeast Ontario confirms high-grade ore.
Hole LM-22-254 cut 30.5 metres of 0.35% cobalt, 5.97 grams silver per tonne and 0.08% nickel from 121 metres down hole, Brixton said in a news release on Dec. 13. The core included 10.02 metres of 0.92% cobalt, 3.5 metres of 1.89% cobalt and 0.5 metre of 9.01% cobalt, 72.5 grams silver and 2.58% nickel, data showed.
Vancouver-based Brixton is pivoting from silver to cobalt at its Langis project about 500 km north of Toronto as it attempts to take advantage of the soaring demand for electric vehicle battery metals and proximity to a nearby processing plant under construction. A 7,000-metre drilling program focusing on cobalt is to be completed by Dec. 20, the company said.
“This program is set out to target cobalt-nickel mineralization specifically as the demand for battery metals increases,” Brixton vice president of exploration Christina Anstey said in the news release. “We are very excited that our first hole in 2022 has confirmed a high-grade of cobalt mineralization at the Langis project.”
Still, Langis is secondary to Brixton’s Thorn copper-gold porphyry project in British Columbia after giant BHP (NYSE: BHP; LSE: BHP; ASX: BHP) bought about a fifth of the company last month for C$13.6 million.
The explorer’s four previous drill campaigns at Langis in the Cobalt Camp of Ontario near the Quebec border totaled 35,100 metres. They focused on deposits linked to an underground silver mine that started in 1905 and closed in 1990 due to low metal prices. The mine produced 10.4 million oz. of silver and 358,340 lb. cobalt from shallow depths.
Langis, on the north shore of Lake Timiskaming, is about 20 km from Electra Battery Materials’ (TSXV: ELBM; NASDAQ: ELBM) refinery for cobalt, which is to start next spring. Electra plans to expand the site into North America’s first battery park for refining nickel, copper, lithium, manganese and graphite.
Brixton chairman and chief executive officer Gary Thompson said Langis is a cornerstone asset that deserves further drilling and more investors.
“The Langis project offers great potential for silver, cobalt and nickel,” Thompson said. “We welcome potential joint venture partners to reach out regarding this unique opportunity.”
Brixton says the cobalt and silver mineralization at Langis appear to be derived from separate mineralizing systems, although the host veins commonly share structures and can occur together frequently. Cobalt occurs as cobaltite and other nickel carbonyl arsenides and sulpharsenides in quartz-calcite veins, the company says.
The mineralization is hosted in three main rock types: Archean Keewatin volcanic and metasedimentary rocks, Proterozoic Coleman Member sedimentary rocks of the Huronian Supergroup and Proterozoic Nipissing diabase, Brixton said.
In May 2020, the company announced bonanza-grade silver assays at Langis. Drill hole 20-83 in the Shaft 3 area of the old mine intersected 5 metres grading 1,293.34 grams silver per tonne from 11 metres downhole.
Shares in Brixton gained 1.8% on Tuesday in Toronto, valuing the company at C$104.7 million.
