ASX-listed gold explorer Riversgold has signed an option deal to purchase a 100% interest in seven lithium-prospective projects (collectively called the Abigail lithium project) in Quebec, Canada, from Abigail Lake.

Riversgold plans to acquire the project by paying C$75,000 ($55,343.6) in cash and issuing 16.4 million of its shares at A$0.014 apiece, upon securing shareholder approval.

The exploration programme is estimated to cost around C$200,000.

Subject to the completion of due diligence activities, the company will pay out a further C$75,000 in cash, issue 73.8 million of its shares and offer a 2% net smelter return (NSR) on the minerals mined from the projects.

The Abigail lithium project is located within the James Bay district in Quebec. It sits between Critical Element’s Rose lithium deposit with a probable reserve of 26.3 million tonnes (mt) at 0.87% of lithium oxide (Li₂O) and Nemaska Lithium’s Whabouchi deposit (36.6mt at 1.3% Li₂O).

This project includes 602 staked claims across the seven blocks within a total area of 312km². It lies entirely within the La Grande Subprovince of the Archean Superior Province.

Most of the property is underlain by syntectonic tonalitic gneisses, foliated granites with tonalitic enclaves and porphyritic granodiorite units.

Riversgold chairman David Lenigas said: “The Abigail lithium project in Quebec is blessed with year-round access for exploration and the current exploration programme, planned to commence in two weeks, will be managed by the same exploration team who identified the project’s potential lithium anomalies back in 2016/2017.”

Riversgold plans to identify potential lithium-rich pegmatites within the granites at the Abigail lithium project, such as at the Rose lithium deposit, or to find lithium-rich pegmatites located in greenstones such as the Whabouchi deposit.

To conduct the due diligence exploration work, Riversgold selected Silverwater Exploration Services. Field exploration works are expected to begin next month.