Canadian Orebodies Inc. (TSX VENTURE:CO) has announced drilling will commence immediately on the Tebishogeshik showing on its Zigzag Lithium/Rare Metals property under option from Ultra Lithium Inc. (TSX VENTURE:ULI).
The Property is subject to an Option Agreement with Ultra and the underlying property owners to acquire an 80% legal and beneficial interest (subject to a 2% NSR retained by the Owners, 50% of which can be purchased by Orebodies for $1,000,000).
Orebodies initial drilling will consist of approximately 7 short holes designed to test at depth the lithium and tantalum rich areas previously sampled on surface by Orebodies. Results from this program will be used to assess the potential of the Tebishogeshik showing and if favourable aid in further drilling on the property.
Drilling Completed On Falcon Property
Orebodies is also pleased to announce that the drilling program previously announced on December 22, 2010 on Orebodies 100% owned Falcon property has been completed. Orebodies initial drilling program on the Falcon property consisted of 3 short holes totalling 265 meters, which was designed to test at depth the lithium rich zones successfully outlined on surface by Orebodies. The core is currently being logged, cut and prepped to be sent to the lab for assay, with results to be announced once received. Results from this program will be used to assess the potential of the Falcon property and if favourable aid in further drilling on the property.
Zigzag Property Overview
The Property in total consists of 129 claim units comprising 2,064 hectares, located approximately 60 km northeast of Armstrong, Ontario. The property is host to 5 historical lithium and rare metal showings of consequence.
Highlights from work completed to date on the Zigzag property Tebishogeshik showing include individual grab samples which assayed up to 4.09% Li 2 O, 501 ppm Ta2O 5 , Rb 2,280 ppm, Be 408 ppm (for full results please see Orebodies Press Releases dated December 13, 2010).
Historical highly anomalous tantalum and cesium values are notably widespread on the property and indicate a high potential for zoned, complex-type pegmatites enriched in tantalum and cesium. Complex-type pegmatites are excellent targets for economic deposits of lithium, tantalum, cesium and rubidium such as the Tanco pegmatite in Manitoba.
Tantalum Information
Tantalum is a specialty metal which is highly corrosion resistant and has the highest ability to hold and release electricity. These characteristics make it essential for electronic devices (tantalum capacitors) and specialty applications such as jet engines. Several events in the global market have caused the price of tantalum to increase significantly as of late, mainly the fact that two of the largest producers have shut down (Tanco deposit in Canada and Talison Tantalum in Australia) which represents nearly half of the world market. These shutdowns have led to a global supply that has fallen behind demand and the market now requires additional production from new projects.
Orebodies Zigzag property is very interesting for the fact that besides high grade lithium, tantalum could have one of the most considerable economic benefits as historically there have been a significant amount of samples collected that demonstrate widespread, high grade results. Breaks (2003) stated that individual analysis from the Tebishogeshik Lens 3 exceeded 80 wt % Ta2O5 and were amongst the highest documented in lithium-rich pegmatite of Ontario.