Azimut Exploration Inc.

Galinée

Region

James Bay

Size

29,000 Ha

Metals

Li, Au

Target Style

Shear-zone hosted / Intrusion-related Au systems / Li-bearing pegmatites

Stage

Early Stage - Targets Identified

Operator

AZM

Ownership

50% AZM / 50% SOQUEM

2024 Planned Program

Prospecting, drilling

Introduction

The 36-km-long Galinée property is held as a 50/50 JV project with SOQUEM. It is located about 50 km north-northwest of the Renard diamond mine (Stornoway Diamonds Canada), which sits at the northern end of Route 167, a permanent all-season road connecting the mine to the provincial highway network via Mistissini and Chibougamau. The property also lies about 60 km south of the eastern end of the Trans-Taiga Road, a 666-km gravel highway branching off the Billy-Diamond Highway.

The Galinée project borders to the south the Adina property, where Winsome Resources Ltd announced an initial inferred mineral resource estimate of 59 million tonnes at 1.12% Li₂O (Winsome’s press release of December 11, 2023). At Adina, two east-west subparallel spodumene-bearing pegmatite zones, dipping shallowly to the south, have been traced over a strike length of 1,300 m.

In Q4 2023, Azimut completed a maiden 5,000 m drill program to test the down-dip extension of the adjacent Adina Main Zone on Galinée. 11 holes out of 17 have cut significant spodumene mineralization with the first hole returning a major intercept of 2.48% Li₂O over 72.7 m. The visual examination of the drill core also indicated a roughly east-west-trending lithium zone with a strike length of 700 metres at Galinée. This zone remains largely open to the east and south.

On a larger scale, the Galinée project displays multiple well-defined prospects, including a 20-km-long lithium-cesium-gallium-tin anomaly in lake sediments in the northwestern part of the property. Outcrops in this area are rare, but its strong geochemical footprint underscores significant exploration potential roughly coincident with a NE-SW-trending sheared greenstone belt.

Lithium Exploration

In September 2023, Azimut completed an initial prospecting program on the Galinée property and identified a spodumene-bearing pegmatite boulder field containing at least 12 mineralized boulders in a 650- by 350-m area (PR of September 06, 2023). Most boulders are angular to sub-angular, generally indicative of short transport distances from the bedrock source (a few metres to several hundred metres). The area has few outcrops but the overburden appears thin. 9 of the 12 mineralized boulders returned lithium grades ranging from 0.5% Li₂O to 4.09% L_i2O.

In Q4 2023, a maiden 5,000 m drill program was completed with seventeen holes drilled for a total of 4,914.9 m. Eleven holes have cut significant spodumene mineralization (PR of January 9, 2024 and PR of February 23, 2024). In March 2024, Azimut announced a 2,500 m drilling phase aims to further define and expand the high-grade lithium zone discovered.

The best results to date include:

Hole GAL23-001
- 2.48% Li2O over 72.7 m including:
  - 3.38% Li2O over 18.0 m
  - 3.27% Li2O over 12.7 m
Hole GAL23-003
- 1.56% Li2O over 36.6 m including:
  - 2.41% Li2O over 21.2 m
Hole GAL23-009
- 2.13% Li2O over 44.1 m including:
  - 3.35% Li2O over 13.0 m
- 1.13% Li2O over 16.5 m including:
  - 1.69% Li2O over 9.2 m

These high-grade lithium intervals, related to coarse spodumene pegmatite, are interpreted to have intersected the southern extension of the Adina deposit on the adjacent Adina property (Winsome Resources Ltd). Winsome Resources announced an initial inferred mineral resource estimate of 59 Mt at 1.12% Li2O for the Adina deposit (Winsome Resources’ press release of December 11, 2023).

As currently defined, the lithium zone on Galinée has a strike length of 700 metres and trends roughly east-west. It remains largely open on the property to the east and south, with the variability in thicknesses and grades expected for these types of pegmatitic bodies. The new drilling phase will better define the geometry and true thickness of the pegmatites intersected to date and their relationship to the Adina deposit. Initial data suggest a shallow dip to the south, ranging from subhorizontal to 15 degrees.

Spodumene crystals range from a few centimetres to 20-25 cm long, with greyish-beige to greenish-beige colours. Other associated minerals include quartz, white feldspar, tourmaline and, less frequently, garnet, apatite and possibly lepidolite. Holmquistite, a typical lithium-bearing amphibole in the margins of lithiumrich pegmatites, has also been observed. The host rock is dark green amphibolite.

At a much larger scale, the Galinée property displays strong exploration potential supported by Azimut’s project database and recently acquired results on surrounding properties belonging to other companies. The region is considered an emerging lithium district. A cumulative 60 kilometres of highly prospective strike length has been outlined on the property (see PR of February 23, 2024).

Previous Exploration Activitities

Previous work in the area was carried out between 1995 and 2017, including several geochemistry surveys (soil and till), a 6-hole drilling program, several prospecting campaigns, heavy mineral sampling (diamond exploration) and a heliborne geophysical survey (magnetic and radiometric). Two historical showings correspond to linear magnetic highs along the northeastern edge of the property:

The Savon Gold showing (1.18 g/t Au), discovered by Virginia Mines in 2009, is characterized by mineralized altered basalt. A quartz-veined boulder found 175 m to the east of the Savon Gold showing yielded 1.74 g/t Au.

The Pankot’s Palace showing (5.09 g/t Au) is characterized by millimetric veins of chalcopyrite and pyrite cutting fine-grained biotite paragneiss.

A multi-property assessment program in 2018, funded by partner SOQUEM, included fieldwork on the Galinée property, which led to the discovery by prospecting of the sub-cropping, tonalite-hosted Gamora Prospect (up to 2.17 g/t Au), recognized over an area of 130 m by 30 m. Twenty-six (26) grab samples yielded values above 0.1 g/t Au, including six (6) samples returning values from 0.53 g/t Au to 0.84 g/t Au and one (1) sample returning 2.17 g/t Au (PR of November 13, 2018). About 5 km to the west, a gold grain dispersal train in till yielded a sample containing 52 delicate gold grains, suggesting a proximal common source. A very unusual multi-kilometre cluster of gold values in lake-bottom sediments was also identified (PR of May 31, 2018).

The Galinée property is located in the La Grande Subprovince about 15 km north of the Quentin shear zone, which marks the boundary with the Opinaca Subprovince. The rocks that underlie the property are mostly felsic intrusives – tonalite, granite and granodiorite. Other lithologies include the biotite-rich Salomon River paragneiss in the western part of the property and Trieste amphibolite along with basalts and gabbros in a shear zone. Metamorphism is at upper amphibolite to granulite facies.