Kristie Batten: Patriot’s PEA shines a light back on James Bay

One of Australia’s top mining journalists, Kristie Batten writes for Stockhead every week in her regular column placing a watchful eye on the movers and shakers of the small cap resources scene.

The preliminary economic assessment for Patriot Battery Metals’ (ASX:PMT) Shaakichiuwaanaan project has further reinforced the potential for the James Bay lithium province in Quebec, Canada, to yield further major discoveries.

The PEA, released less than two weeks ago, outlined the potential for a long-life, low-cost operation to produce more than 800,000 tonnes per annum of spodumene concentrate.

Discovered in 2021, Shaakichiuwaanaan (previously known as Corvette), now has an indicated resource of 80.1 million tonnes at 1.44% lithium oxide and an inferred 62.5Mt at 1.31% lithium oxide for 4.88Mt of contained lithium carbonate equivalent, making it the largest lithium resource in the Americas.

The project has an additional exploration target of 146-231Mt at 1-1.5% lithium oxide.

“In our view, the size of the exploration target speaks to management’s confidence in the potential of its property (a potential resource double!),” Canaccord Genuity analyst Katie Lachapelle said when the target was released last month.

The current resource only includes two of the eight known pegmatite clusters, all of which remain open along strike and at depth.

“To date, there has only been serious drill programs at three pegmatite clusters (CV5, CV13, and CV9), all which remain open at depth and along strike,” Lachapelle said.

“In 2025, Patriot plans to expand its exploration program along the CV Lithium Trend and begin targeting other known spodumene pegmatite clusters including CV4, CV8, CV10, CV12, and CV14.”

Up the road

In the past couple of years, dozens of ASX-listed explorers have flocked to the James Bay region, spurred on by Patriot’s success.

Of the hoard of juniors, few are still there or if they’ve hung onto the ground, their focus is elsewhere.

One that has stayed the course is James Bay Minerals (ASX:JBY) .

JBY is a large landholder in the James Bay region, accumulating 416 square kilometres of ground. The company’s Joule, Aero, Aqua and La Grande East projects sit in the La Grande sub-province, along trend from Shaakichiuwaanaan.

The newest project in the portfolio is La Grande East, acquired in March.

One of the most significant features of the project is the two magnetic lows which trend into the Shaakichiuwaanaan project.

Field work kicked off last week at La Grande East, comprising field mapping, rock chip sampling and channel sampling. It comes after the company identified 340 high-priority targets in desktop studies using satellite imagery and government geophysical data.

Initial reviews of the eastern portion of the property via satellite have identified multiple large white dyke-like features, some of which are more than 500m long.

JBY believes the favourable geological setting indicates the potential for a major lithium discovery.

Tier one region

James Bay is considered to be as prospective as the Pilbara region for lithium but is not as advanced.

However, it is close to the North American supply chain and has the potential to comply for the US’ Inflation Reduction Act.

Aside from Shaakichiuwaannaan, other advanced projects in the James Bay region include Arcadium’s shovel-ready James Bay and Winsome Resources’ Cancet.

The region is serviced by several airports as well as the all-weather Trans-Taiga Road, and the area is also close to cheap and clean hydropower.

According to Patriot’s Ken Brinsden, hydropower in Quebec costs around C5c per kilowatt hour, or 5.5c/kwh.

“Industrial power in the Pilbara, depends on exactly where you are, costs 30-35c a kilowatt hour – seven times as much,” he said recently.

“It is a massive competitive advantage.”

The views, information, or opinions expressed in the interviews in this article are solely those of the interviewees and do not represent the views of Stockhead. Stockhead does not provide, endorse or otherwise assume responsibility for any financial product advice contained in this article.

At Stockhead we tell it like it is. While James Bay Minerals is a Stockhead advertiser at the time of writing, it did not sponsor this article.