Consolidated Lithium Metals (TSXV:CLM), formerly known as Jourdan Resources is a Canadian junior mining exploration company. The company is focused on the acquisition, exploration, production and development of mining properties focused on lithium.
Consolidated Lithium Metals properties are in Quebec, primarily in the spodumene-bearing pegmatites of the La Corne Batholith, around North American Lithium’s Quebec lithium mine.
Joining The Market Herald Canada to discuss Consolidated Lithium’s projects, opportunity for investment and how the company is ready for a surge in electric vehicle lithium demand is Roger Lemaitre, vice president and head of mining.
TMH: Let’s start with the projected demand for Lithium – it’s forecasted to increase by 6-fold by 2035 due to EV adoption – how is Consolidated Lithium positioned to help meet these demands.
Lemaitre: We’ll start maybe a little bit with the macro work down to the company itself. When you look at the sixfold increase that’s coming globally, when you look out to 2035 with about 22% of North American demand, it’s going to be met by North American Supply and so an “if you can build it, they will come” sort of approach is what we take with it, but I think for us it’s all about JIGs, jurisdiction, infrastructure, and geology.
Quebec is a phenomenal jurisdiction from a mining investment point of view and it’s been for many, many, many years but it’s also from an infrastructure point of view, becoming sort of the hub for North American lithium production with Sayona particularly sort of spearheading that with their reopening of their North American Lithium mine. They’re our partner and we actually work live right next door to them and they’re a partner on our next door property.
In geology, we’re on the Vallee lithium trend. It’s a 22ish-kilometre-long trend that has not only Sayona Mine on it but our Vallee lithium pegmatites on it and several other showings and we own about half of that trend through all the assets that we have. So not just that, just a couple other properties in and around this very prolific La Corne Batholith that’s known to produce many lithium bearing pegmatites.
TMH: For those who may not understand how to assess lithium’s value or quality – can you explain what hard rock lithium is and how to determine high lithium content?
Lemaitre: I guess the best way to explain it is to eventually get it down to a gold equivalent. So a 10% spodumene, spodumene is the mineral that contains lithium, it contains about 8% lithium dioxide by weight. So a 10% in the rock would work out to 0.8% lithium dioxide grade. You can turn that into a concentrate of spodumene. It needs to be about 6%. So let’s put a 7.5 times concentrating factor and at current price of $3,450 a tonne for spodumene, 6% concentrate that works out that 10% spodumene in a rock works out to about $460 a tonne or the equivalent of 7.35 grams per tonne in a gold equivalent. And most people who are familiar with gold, seven grams is a pretty high grade.
TMH: What are you finding in your projects?
Lemaitre: We’re finding a lot of 1% lithium dioxide from a handful of our drill holes that we did over the last two years that we’ve reported in several of our press releases over the last two years.
TMH: Consolidated Lithium’s projects are located north of Val d’Or with over 18,000 hectares of claims located next to Sayona’s restarted lithium operation – what is the advantage of your location.
Lemaitre: Well, one along that Vallee lithium trend, I mean you want to be somewhere the old mines are found along nearby mines. We have a stranglehold near the area around Sayona, so much so that they partnered with us on Vallee because, quite frankly, their pegmatites are in their pit strike towards our property and we’ve done our drilling on our side. So their pegmatites point to us and our pegmatites points back to them, and there’s a gap in the middle that needs to be drilled.
TMH: Tell us about your 100%-owned Baillargé Lithium Project and its three known pegmatite systems, located in the Abitibi Greenstone Belt approximately 21 kilometres northwest of Val-d’Or, Quebec.
Lemaitre: The Baillargé is about 21 kilometres northwest of Val d’Or but about 10 kilometres southwest of the existing Sayona North American lithium operation and our Vallee project. Back in the 1950s, there were three pegmatites discovered that contain spodumene, some limited drilling and some very high-grade individual samples were found in those holes.
Last year we went out with an outcrop stripping program, extended the length of those pegmatites, and did some soil sampling as well. This year we’re actively currently drilling on those projects right now. The three dykes are spaced over a 320-meter-by-160-meter area and they’re open ended in the north to the south and the southeast.
Along the strike is another company called Burley Resources that has the Chubb Lithium showing and the area in between what we’ve worked and where they’ve worked has never seen any exploration whatsoever and once again, it’s very much like Vallee. Their stuff points towards our stuff and our stuff points towards theirs, but we have all the land in between.
TMH: You had a delayed start to your summer exploration at the Baillargé Lithium Project due to the volatile forest fire situation in Northern Quebec – now that you have started, what are the three key parts of the program?
Lemaitre: So key No. 1 is our drilling program. We have a 4,200-meter drill program on the go right now as we speak. Testing all three of the dyke systems down to depths of about a hundred meters and then seeing how we could chase them along strike. We’re expanding the outcrop stripping program to find some of the areas that we learned about since doing some more research on the assessment files this year. And then we’re doing a soil sampling program to cover the area between where we’re going to finish our drilling and the Chubb showing to the southeast, where there’s been no exploration programs. So we can target to in the upcoming drill programs, other extensions of these pegmatite systems.
TMH: What are the highlights from your other projects (Vallee Lithium and Preissac-Lacorne)?
Lemaitre: At Vallee we have a 14,000-metre program planned and we’re starting imminently with our partner Sayona on the extension of their mine property. At Preissac-Lacorne, we just acquired one of our doughnut holes within our claim package that’s on the Vallee Lithium trend and added a small package that has some high-grade lithium and molybdenum showings on it. But also we’re going to be doing some more work there, sort of proving those up for drill programs at that showing and plus the Lacorne showing here for later this year or early next year. And East Vallee is the sort of on-strike extension of the on-strike extension of the Sayona Mine and that’s a three-and-a-half kilometre stretch that has never seen any exploration at all but it’s along that prolific boundary of the LaCorne Batholith, right where you want to be looking. We’re in the process of doing some soil sampling there so that we can target there a big extension for next year as well.
TMH: What can investors expect following your summer exploration program?
Lemaitre: A whole lot of drill results with over 18,000 meters of drilling this year and not just drilling to hope to find something but drilling in areas where we know there are existing lithium bearing pegmatites and looking for extensions of those. We expect to have a lot of results to put out here in the near future.
TMH: What are the plans for the remainder of 2023 and the start of 2024? And what’s next for Consolidated Lithium?
Lemaitre: Right now, it’s all about drill programs, and it will be for the foreseeable future, and then planning for next year’s work with our soil sample programs that we’re doing now.
TMH: How can investors learn more and get involved with Consolidated Lithium?
Lemaitre: Well, we have our website at consolidatedlithium.com and of course we’re on Twitter and LinkedIn as well, under the same names.
For more information on Consolidated Lithium visit consolidatedlithium.com.
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