Patriot Battery Metals:Nice work by Patriot Battery Metals...

Patriot Battery Metals:

Nice work by Patriot Battery Metals (ASXMT) boss Ken Brinsden of former Pilbara (ASXLS) fame in reminding the market that Patriot’s Corvette lithium project in Quebec is something special.

The reminder came in the form of a batch of infill drilling results from the key CV5 pegmatite at Corvette which already has a mineral resource estimate of 109.2Mt at 1.42% lithium.

Being infill, the holes won’t add much to the updated MRE for CV5 planned for the September quarter (there will also be a maiden MRE for the new CV13 pegmatite discovery), but they did go to the quality of Corvette.

The hits reported included 122.5m at 1.42%, including 35.8m at 2.15%, and 71.4m at 1.57% in another hole, including 14.2m at 3.15% lithium.

The widths are matched at some lithium deposits in WA but not the grade, which is right up there with the fabled Greenbushes joint venture in the state between Tianqi/IGO/Albemarle.

Patriot popped 9.4% higher in Thursday’s market to 87.5c, recovering the ground and more lost on Wednesday on news that Patriot and Albemarle would end their strategic alliance on a possible downstream lithium processing facility in Quebec or the US off the back off Corvette’s development as the spodumene concentrate supplier.

It was an alliance struck in August last year which was cemented with Albemarle taking a 4.9% placement in Patriot, giving it the funds to continue its aggressive drilling programs at Corvette.

The assumption at the time was that Albemarle would make Patriot its own at some point. But last years’ lithium price rout has forced Albemarle to pull its head in on ambitions to grow beyond what it already has on its books.

As mentioned, Patriot was initially sold off on the Albemarle news, only to strongly rebound on Thursday. The reason for that is simple enough. Patriot is now considered to be “in play’’ as discoveries like Corvette are few and far between.

What’s more, it is on the doorstep of the North American battery supply chain with walk up access to government incentives of all kinds from both the Canadian and US governments.

So others known to have been snooping around Patriot before Albemarle seemingly closed the door last August will be busy rethinking their strategy to secure the biggest, and what could well be the best, lithium project in North America.

The list of likely lookers is a long one and includes the likes of Rio Tinto, Mineral Resources and Gina Rinehart.

https://www.livewiremarkets.com/wires/asx-companies-stand-to-win-as-western-governments-ramp-up-intervention-in-critical-minerals-markets