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Poppins

This week, I’d like you to cast your mind back to the exclusivity agreement we entered in December for a project located in northwest Ontario.
 
As you probably remember, the property is not only located in a district prospective for hard rock, pegmatite-hosted lithium…
 
But it also already houses a structure extending over more than 800m of ground that boasts both tantalum and lithium.
 
Now, as it stands, we remain unable to provide much more than this when it comes to the details of the project itself. After all, our due diligence is ongoing.
 
However, what we can say today is that:

We’re making strong progress in our assessment of the project; and

We’re impressed with what we are seeing.

With this in mind, I wanted to take the opportunity here to explain more about exactly what attracted us to this opportunity in the first place…
 
Driving towards success 
Long story short, we see an enormous amount of potential value in adding Ontario-based lithium exposure to our portfolio.
 
You see, the silver metal’s ubiquity is expected to proliferate considerably over the coming decades.
 
This comes down in part to its ongoing use in everything from alloys to ceramic.
 
However, as is now the case with many metals, what’s really expected to drive future demand­ for lithium is its role in the electric vehicle (“EV”) revolution.
 
You see, the metal is a key ingredient in the anodes used in the lithium-ion batteries that power these vehicles.
 
So, as you’d expect, the amount required is expected to soar as more and more of us make the switch away from petrol and diesel.
 
In fact, global demand for lithium is expected to hit anywhere from three to five million tonnes in 2030 from just 500,000 tonnes today.
 
That’s a huge jump in a very short period of time.
 
And according to S&P Global, the absence of an equivalent jump in lithium supply is set to result in a 605,000-tonne deficit for the metal.
 
Why is this important?
 
Well, it means that new potential sources of lithium are increasingly being sought out to plug this gap.  
 
And the new potential sources that are attracting the greatest interest of all are those based in stable mining jurisdictions that can provide supply chain diversification away from China.
 
Jurisdictions such as Ontario, for example.
 
A lithium hotspot 
Ontario has become something of a lithium hotspot in recent times, with an increasingly large number of juniors making strong exploration progress in the Canadian province.
 
Take Green Technology Metals, for example, which is currently drilling its Seymour and Root projects in Ontario on the back of a steady flow of high-grade lithium results. At Seymour, the company is sitting on an almost-10 million tonne resource of lithium-enriched spodumene rock.
 
Likewise, there’s also Lithium One Metals, whose recent acquisition of the Pinto property extends its long-running spree of acquiring local lithium properties. As it stands, the company’s total land base totals 25,950 hectares in Northern Ontario and the James Bay side of Quebec.
 
The list continues, with other firms currently engaging in Ontario-based lithium exploration including Frontier Lithium, High Tide Resources, Rock Tech Lithium, and Imagine Lithium...
 
But the point is, when it comes to the immense task of overcoming the anticipated lithium deficit, Ontario boasts both the geological prospectivity and mining friendly setting required.
 
It appears that this is already being recognised by the EV markets biggest players, too.
 
Not only is Volkswagen planning to build a battery cell factory in Ontario, but Magna International has invested $470m to build a factory in Ontario to help Ford keep up with surging demand for F-150 Lightning electric pickup trucks.
 
Again, the examples continue.
 
But what we’re clearly seeing is an opportunity to use our local exploration expertise and contact networks to make the most of this soaring interest in Ontario lithium exploration.
 
And this, reader, is what initially sparked FCM’s search for a quality lithium prospective project in the territory.
 
We expect to announce an update on our exclusivity agreement–as well as further project details–shortly.
 
However, regardless of the decision we take, we remain steadfast in our belief that lithium represents the perfect addition to the list of metals we are exposed to across our Ontario-centred portfolio.
 
Keep an eye out for updates over the coming weeks!

Why we see so much potential value in Ontario