Patriot Battery Metals Inc. [PMET-CSE, PMETF-OTCQB, R9GA-FSE] has released an update on drilling activity at its 100%-owned Corvette – FCI gold-copper-silver-lithium project in the James Bay Region of Quebec.
Patriot Battery Metals has been targeting the CV Lithium Trend, an emerging spodumene pegmatite district discovered by the company in 2017. It spans more than 25 kilometres across the Corvette Property, covering the FCE West, FCE East and Corvette claim blocks. It consists of numerous spodumene pegmatite occurrences, which include the CV1, CV2, CV3, CV5, CV6, and CV7 pegmatites, highlighted by the CV5 and CV1 Pegmatite.
Patriot Battery is currently advancing its CV5 Pegmatite towards the pre-feasibility study stage. CV5 hosts an estimated inferred resource of 109.2 million tonnes at 1.42% Li20 and 160 PPM Ta205, making the largest lithium pegmatite resource in the Americas.
In the latest update, the company said traffic restrictions caused by local wildfires that have been in place to one extent or another since the end of May, 2023, have been lifted. As of August, 24, 2023, all roads in the area, including the Trans-Taiga Road and Billy Diamond Highway, have reopened to traffic.
Since recommencing exploration at the property in early August, the company said it has co-ordinated a steady ramp up of its drilling activities at the site. The company has drilled more than 10,000 metres already this summer, even with wildfires.
Patriot Battery shares advanced on the news rising 3.6% or 38 cents to $11.00. The shares are currently trading in a 52-week range of $17.74 and $4.69.
Two drill rigs are focused on 50 to 100-metre-spaced stepouts westward at the CV5 spodumene pegmatite towards CV13, and one rig on continued delineation at the CV13 spodumene pegmatite. A fourth barge-mounted drill rig has commenced drilling over the near-surface eastern area of the CV5.
This latter area was not included in the resource estimates block model. The company said it anticipates adding a fifth rig (barge mounted) by month-end to drill areas of CV5 that are difficult to access by or ice.
Another two rigs are scheduled to commence drilling in mid-September with the first being deployed at CV13, and the second for initial testing of the CV9 spodumene pegmatite cluster.
This will bring the total number of active drill rigs on site to seven with activity focused on the CV5, CV13, and CV9 spodumene pegmatites.
Meanwhile the company said it plans to release more drill results in September after it files a 43-101 technical report on the CV5 mineral resource estimate. The report is expected to be filed by the first half of September.
Patriot Battery was in the news recently when Albemarle Corp. [ALB-NYSE], the U.S. specialty chemicals giant, said it was making a $109 million strategic investment in Patriot Battery.
