Recharge Metals makes progress with first-ever lithium hunt at Wapistan project

James Bay in Quebec province is Canada’s lithium hot spot but it’s still not fully explored for that mineral.

Recharge Metals (ASX: REC) is addressing this at its Wapistan project where, the company reports, its maiden field work is well under way.

Wapistan has been previously explored for gold and metals, but only now is the lithium potential being assessed.

To date, traverses have been completed across Targets 1 and 2, with those traverses also being mapped.

An aerial photography survey has been completed across the entire Wapistan project with results due in coming weeks.

Close to recent lithium strikes

Recharge also has access to records of historic exploration, including field mapping, surface sampling and geophysical surveys.

But it’s the encouraging results from close neighbours that have added urgency to the work by Recharge.

Wapistan is located proximal — that is, close to the centre of a geological process — to two discoveries by Toronto Venture Exchange companies.

With lithium discoveries being reported by close neighbours there, Recharge commissioned Edmonton-based consultants Dahrouge Geological to collect data and generate exploration targets.

At Mia, owned by Q2 Metals, grab samples returned grades of 2.73%, 2.05% and 0.55% lithium oxide.

These were collected to back up samples taken in 2022 which averaged 2.65% lithium oxide.

At Ophir Gold’s Radis project outcrop samples returned 2.33%, 1.68% and 1.17% lithium oxide.

Ophir also reported it had identified a previously unsampled spodumene-bearing zone.

More field work to begin mid-October

Traverses across Targets 3 and 4 will be completed when field crews return to the project in the middle of this month.

Recharge managing director Felicity Repacholi congratulated the technical consultants, Dahrouge, for their dedication.

“Having recently viewed the ground myself from the helicopter I can attest to the scale of the opportunity at Wapistan,” she added.

“We are really just scratching the surface of the project in this initial field work.”