Chris Ellison’s Mineral Resources eyeing Ken Brinsden lithium play Patriot Battery Metals, page-168

Interesting excerpt from an article I was just reading,

With the opportunity cost of Rio's costly dallying in lithium made, it is notable that rather than pursuing a big bang acquisition, Rio has in recent times been signing up potentially big-spending lithium exploration joint ventures with junior explorers in Australia and Canada.

The Canadian ones are of particular interest, focussed as they are on the James Bay region of Quebec. Rio has struck two lithium exploration deals there - one with Midland Exploration and one with Azimut Exploration.

Major miners strike exploration joint ventures all the time. But Rio's flurry in the James Bay region points to something bigger - Rio's likely interest in the upcoming maiden resource estimate by the dual-listed Patriot Battery Metals for its Corvette discovery.

Patriot has recently been the subject of a lightweight attack by a short seller outfit which says that expectations that the maiden resource estimate will come in at something north of a world-class 100Mt is overblown and that it will be more like (a still none too shabby) 60Mt.

The maiden estimate is due this month. Given former Pilbara boss and now Patriot chair Ken Brinsden reckons Corvette is "one of the world's great lithium discoveries", the expectation is that the short seller is about to be squeezed in no uncertain terms.

Assuming Corvette's world-class credentials are confirmed, Rio will be pleased. Major miners like to have their foot on province-scale plays and its little flurry of exploration joint ventures near Corvette has it going down that pathway.

But will confirmation of Corvette as a world beater in terms of tonnes and grade result in Rio's lithium logjam being broken by Rio launching a bid for the $2 billion Patriot? It would not surprise, put it that way.