ION has recently acquired the Bliss Lake lithium project in Canada. What drove this diversification?

Quite simply, investors’ interest in lithium has diversified, pivoting from brines as the original supplier of lithium to then hard rock with the old Nemaska Lithium. Clays also received a fair bit of interest with Nevada’s Thacker Pass. Our Mongolian Baavhai Uul clay evaporite asset has the potential to be a brine asset if we dig deeper, while Urgakh Naran shows all signs of being a brine asset. This Bliss Lake pegmatite addition rounds out our portfolio from brines and clays to a hard rock project in the proven jurisdiction of North West Territories.

This acquisition also helped us generate value in a jurisdiction that is understood. As first-movers in Mongolia, we do not get the same credit for going out there and staking land as we would in a place like Argentina, where the market caps escalate before there is a hole in the ground. Finally, we made sure the acquisition was minimally dilutive; at a cost of ~ C$127,000, of which C$100K was in equity at a premium. Could you bring our readers up to date concerning your Mongolian assets?

We acquired the Baavhai Uul project in 2019, listing it the following year at the height of the pandemic. With borders closed, we opted for a rudimentary AG drilling program across an 81,000 ha behemoth, with 222 holes, finding grades of up to 1,502 ppm lithium, together with a copper and nickel discovery.

In 2021, we acquired Urgakh Naran, in Dornogovi province; one of the best-developed areas for mining infrastructure in Mongolia. In 2021, we performed a few AG holes allowing us to see lithium content in the upper strata. In April 2022, we collected a brine sample on the surface at 918 mg/l – a world-class result. After setting up an exploration camp on site, we conducted a 100-line km of TEM geophysics, yielding 9.9 billion cubic meters at half an ohm cut-off. We also drilled three lithological diamond core drill holes and found grades of about 320 ppm lithium across 100-meter intercepts on all three holes, sitting 1.5-2 km apart from each other. Albemarle’s Silver Peak has an average grade of lithological drilling at 121 ppm, by comparison. Urgakh Naran is unquestionably ION’s crown jewel. What’s next for Urgakh Naran?

Our next step is to arrive at a mineral resource estimate (MRE) and give the market an indication of just how much lithium is there, validated by a third party. We are no longer looking to bring in a public equity investor, due to the dilution risks, but instead, an investor that buys into the asset with the obligation to perform exploration over several years with the option to acquire the remaining equity. That would leave ION Energy with an NSR. These conversations are ongoing. What has been your experience as an explorer in Mongolia?

As a jurisdiction, there could be improved transparency; often, the provincial government operates as a sovereign entity rather than in accord with the national interest. Otherwise, Mongolia has been forthcoming, consistent in its messaging, and ready to show the world it is open for business from all parts of the world. I believe Mongolia’s openness will allow it to advance much more rapidly, as we have seen recently with Zijin’s investment in Xanadu, China’s first open investment in Mongolia. There are still some infrastructure hurdles to overcome. Was there anything that particularly surprised you about Mongolia when you first set foot here?

I was blown away by the majestic beauty of the Mongolian nature, particularly of the steppe. It is a vast country where you sometimes feel very tiny. I’m most impressed by how far it has come over the last six years, which makes me excited about what it is yet to achieve, and likely at a rapid rate. Mongolia has many Ivy League-educated leaders, a new guard of ministers and regulators, as well as a young generation hungry for change, which makes anything achievable. Do you have a final message for our international audience?

Being first movers in a jurisdiction has been an uphill battle, but even so, the fruits of our efforts are paying dividends in terms of exceptional grades, volumes, and upside potential.