Can you give an introduction to Patriot Battery Metals and the company’s portfolio?

Patriot Battery Metals is a hard rock lithium exploration company focused on advancing its district-scale 100%-owned Corvette property in the James Bay region. But we also have several other assets in our portfolio, including lithium assets in Québec and the Northwest Territories, and a gold and copper property in Idaho. The Corvette property is one of the largest and highest-grade hard rock lithium projects being explored today. It is host to the CV5 Spodumene Pegmatite with a maiden inferred mineral resource estimate of 109.2 million t at 1.42% Li2O and 160 ppm Ta2O5 (at a cut-off of 0.40% Li2O), ranking it as the largest lithium pegmatite resource in the Americas and one of the top 10 largest lithium pegmatite resources in the world.

Can you elaborate on what makes Corvette a fascinating asset?

So far we have concentrated our efforts on only a small portion of the property; roughly 25 km have been evaluated to date with more than 25 km yet to be explored. We have discovered more than 70 lithium pegmatite outcrops over roughly 20 km of trend evaluated to date, which form multiple distinct clusters throughout the property.

The CV5 Spodumene Pegmatite has been traced by drilling over a strike length of 3.7 km and remains open along the strike at both ends and to depth along a significant portion of its length. We also intend to complete a maiden mineral resource estimate for the CV13 Spodumene Pegmatite Cluster in the first half of 2024. The CV13 Spodumene Pegmatite Cluster, where we have identified more than 20 spodumene pegmatite outcrops, is located approximately 3.8 km along the geological trend of the CV5 Spodumene Pegmatite and some 1.9 km along the trend from the CV8 Spodumene Pegmatite Cluster.

In summary, we are moving forward with field exploration on the unexplored areas of the property to discover additional lithium pegmatite.

Do you think it is the lithium market maturity that is sparking Australian companies to come to Québec?

A big part of it is that most of the discoveries that were made in the last lithium cycle were not that great. They were closer to roads, which made them more accessible, but they were not of the same scale as we see in Western Australia. There has been much more exploration in Western Australia compared to Québec, but the prospectivity for Québec and the Canadian Shield is quite high with the Greenstone belts and a similar geological environment to host these larger deposits. In October 2021, Patriot Battery Metals was one of the few companies actively exploring lithium, as there was little or no interest in lithium in Canada. Our significant initial drill results caught the attention of Australian investors, and we financed our next few drill programs with all-Australian money. The Canadian market is getting up to speed, but it is just more reticent. The Australians are more informed and aware of what needs to be found, so it makes sense that they are here in Québec exploring.

Will we see more consolidation in the lithium space in Canada?

Consolidation is inevitable over time. However, the wildfire restrictions have probably created some delays in that process. For anyone to consider consolidation, explorers must get on the ground to prospect, collect samples, get the assays, identify drill targets, and then get on the ground with the drills. Over time we will see some consolidation but drilling needs to happen first with positive assay results and not every exploration program is going to be successful.

Do you think there are enough downstream capabilities to process lithium in the US and create a secure North American supply chain for lithium?

Patriot recently concluded a strategic investment of CAD$109 million and a Memorandum of Understanding with Albemarle Corporation, a global leader in the lithium industry. In the shorter term, the additional funding will allow us to advance the Corvette property more through drilling, permitting, study work, and more. In the coming years, I believe the synergies between Patriot and Albemarle will serve to advance our collaborative journey to become an essential part of the lithium supply chain in North America and Europe.