Patriot Battery Metals (TSXV: PMET; ASX: PMT; US-OTC: PMETF) said it has extended the main spodumene deposit on its Corvette project in Quebec by half a kilometre, sending its stock higher.
The Vancouver-based explorer's 20,000-metre winter drilling campaign at the project about 300 km east of James Bay has lengthened the CV5 deposit strike another 550 metres to 3.15 km, it said on Thursday. Assays from 52 drill holes are pending and five holes are in progress, it said.
"We have been able to meet and already exceed our winter program objectives in terms of meterage drilled and new spodumene pegmatite discovered," Darren L. Smith, vice-president of exploration, said in a news release. "We are now within approximately 1.5 km of the CV4 pegmatite cluster to the east and have just begun to step-out westwardly towards the CV13 pegmatite cluster."
Shares in Patriot Battery Metals closed 5% higher on Thursday in Toronto at $11.33 each, down from earlier gains and within a 52-week range of $2.45 to $17.69, valuing the company at $1.3 billion.
Patriot is exploring along a 4.3-km trend of spodumene pegmatite it discovered in 2017 as it prepares an initial resource estimate and prefeasibility study this year. Last month, drill hole CV22-083 returned CV5's strongest interval to date with 156.9 metres grading 2.12% Li2O, including 25 metres at 5.04% Li2O.
Quebec has become a hard rock lithium hotspot as companies vie to supply the surging electric vehicle market. The federal government approved the James Bay open-pit project by Galaxy Resources, a part of Allkem (TSX: AKE; ASX: AKE), in January. Azimut Exploration (TSXV: AZM) has its own James Bay project and Sayona Mining (ASX: SYA) is planning to restart its North American Lithium operations within days.
Patriot intends to test the CV5 pegmatite along strike at both ends. Regional magnetic data and spodumene-pegmatite boulders indicate the trend continues, it said. The winter drilling intersected widths of 5-50 metres of continuous pegmatite, mostly spodumene-bearing, it said.
Geological modelling shows CV5's thickness varies between 25 and 120 metres, although spodumene pegmatite has been intersected as deep as 425 metres and remains open, Patriot said. The location of this deep intersection suggests the presence of additional spodumene-pegmatite lenses south of the main body. These areas are expected to be further drilled over the summer-fall program, it said.
"There remains more than 20 km of geologically favourable trend to be explored for new pegmatite targets and three known spodumene pegmatite clusters yet to be drill tested," Patriot CEO Blair Way said in the release. "The exploration and development team continues to execute, and the drill bit continues to deliver."