The Project is in the northeastern part of the Superior Province and lies within the Lower Eastmain Group of the Eastmain greenstone belt. This area predominantly consists of amphibolite grade mafic to felsic metavolcanic rocks, metasedimentary rocks and minor gabbroic intrusions.

The pegmatites delineated on the property to date are oriented in a generally parallel direction to each other and are separated by barren host rock of sedimentary origin (metamorphosed to amphibolite facies). They form irregular dikes attaining up to 60 m in width and over 200 m in length. The pegmatites crosscut the regional foliation at a high angle, striking to the south southwest and dipping moderately to the west-northwest, with a true thickness that is wider than what is currently mined at Mt Cattlin.

Mineralisation at James Bay is high grade and outcrops along strike, supporting a low strip ratio and open cut mining. It also contains no basalt and low levels of lepidolite leading to higher recoveries through the plant than experienced at Mt Cattlin. Mineralisation is open to the north and east and exploration targets have been identified in these areas. As part of the 2021 work program, Galaxy plans to commence a geophysical survey in Q2 to identify further exploration targets for drilling later in the year. The exploration program will not delay the project development schedule.

Initial analysis from a recent re-sampling program indicates potential under-reporting of the lithium grade and the presence of tantalum. Tantalum production is not in the base case and tantalum will be assayed in all new drilling programs and a design allowance has been made for the potential later inclusion of a tantalum production circuit.

The pegmatite deposit will be mined by conventional open pit methods. All material will require drilling and blasting and will be removed using mining excavators and haul trucks.

The preliminary pit design extends approximately 2 km NW/SE along strike of the pegmatite mineralisation and has an average width of 500 m. The design is divided into three pits with depths of 140m, 150m and 250m.

Mining is scheduled to achieve low waste stripping in the initial years with a gradual increase later in the mine life. The average strip ratio for the LOM plan is 3.7:1.

Waste rock will be hauled to multiple Waste Rock and Tailings Storage Facilities and run of mine feed material will be hauled to the ROM pad, located to the northeast of the pits.

In the pre-production period, all mineralised material generated will be stockpiled for processing during production years. Site preparation including logging, clearing, grubbing and peat/topsoil removal will occur during the Project construction phase.

Surface mining equipment requirements are based on mining 10m benches. Conventional excavator and truck fleet will be sized to meet the planned tonnage requirements to feed the concentrator at 2Mtpa. Haul trucks are required to transport tailings from the plant to the proposed waste rock and dry stacked tailings stockpile areas.

The feedstock from the ROM pile is removed by a front-end loader (FEL) and passed through a 700 mm grizzly into the ROM bin. Material that does not pass through is broken down further by a mobile rock breaker. It is then fed onto a vibrating grizzly of aperture 100 mm. The oversize from this screen is broken down further by a jaw crusher.

The crushed material from the jaw crusher is fed over a primary sizing screen. This screen is a double deck single-shaft vibrating inclined screen with top deck aperture size of 30 mm and bottom deck aperture size of 15 mm. Oversize material from the primary sizing screen is crushed in a secondary cone crusher. Crushed material from the secondary crusher is conveyed to a secondary double-deck vibrating inclined screen identical to the primary screen, with top deck aperture size of 20 mm and bottom deck aperture size of 15 mm. Undersize material from the primary and secondary screens is conveyed to the crushed material stockpile. Oversize material from the secondary screen is fed through a tertiary cone crusher and conveyed back to the secondary sizing screen. Material is recycled through the crushing circuit this way until it is below -15 mm particle size. The stockpile is covered by a 34-m high structural dome in order to protect the crushed material from outdoor weather conditions, particularly to prevent it from freezing during the colder periods.

The crushed feedstock is reclaimed using reclaim chutes and feed conveyors that are located in a tunnel under the stockpile and transfer the material to the DMS area.

The process consists of the following key areas:
- Run of Mine (“ROM”) Pad
- Three stage crushing circuit: Crushing is carried out initially, in order to reduce the particle size of the ROM and allow increased separation efficiency downstream
- Dense media separation (“DMS”): The DMS stage follows crushing and utilizes the density differences between the various minerals in the feed to separate the gangue from the material of value. See DMS section below for a detailed overview
- Tailings treatment and disposal
- Reagent storage and preparation
- Concentrate handling.

DMS generally involves the use of a suspension medium with a high specific gravity. In this process, a Ferrosilicon (“FeSi”) slurry is used, known as the “correct medium”. The correct medium’s high specific gravity enhances the floatability of the lower density material, which contains the gangue particles. The difference in particle density creates a situation where the lighter ga ........