The more this apparent ' short ' trend in lithium and lithium tech persists , the LESS surprised I will be to see an elevated and increased level of Corporate moves and further M&A.
I mean we've already seen the MASSIVE land accumulations , pegging of ground , and claims acquisitions and JV deals.
We've also been privy on the ' sidelines ' to one of the most prolific heightened levels of emerging Lithium Tech that we have seen for quite some time - With the likes of Nano One grabbing Johnson Matthey's Battery Materials Ltd back in May 2022 ( conveniently when the Market was first under short attack from Goldman's round 1 downgrades ) .
This acquisition by NanoOne which cost C$10.25 million and which came with over 360 years of collective experience and research & development expertise as well as a MASSIVE 400,000 sq foot land package which included a LFP
2,400 tpa fully operational concentrator which has been operating since as far back as 2012 .....
and this conentrator is conveniently located in Candiac Quebec which is only 88.4 kilometres from RIO ( NanoOnes Major JV partner ) own Sorel-Tracy Critical Minerals R&D facility is is located in Quebec ....and which again is only 78 - 80 odd klm's from Becancour....... and across the river from Trois-Rivers and Sayona's spodumene spod rail destination.
And so we know that RIO has taken a 4.9% stake in NanoOne ...and which Canada is very excited about , and we also know that Johnson Matthey was in fact Nemaska's FIRST offtake partner to sign onto it initial aspirations before it succumbed to its financial failure and so would know that they would have been involved in the cutting edge of Nemaska's own lithium technology processing patents.
We also know that the next generation of battery technologies surrounding the iron phosphate lithium variety are obviously attracting the interest and the likes of RIO and potentially others as I have mentioned in that industry. Even Quebecs privately held BlackRock Mining which has received approximately C$285 million in various amounts of funding and assistance has its own projects in Chibougamau Quebec which is just southeast of Moblan has its minerals centered around Vanadium - Titanium ....and IRON. Now why would Quebec see this to be so valuable so as to give it this much funding.
And why did SOQUEM bring up the vanadium showings in previous Moblan drill results as something which they would like to have or rather insisted be included in future economic proposals.
So it should be no surprise then that RIO is stepping up and advancing their tech and that they have declared they will be testing SAYONA Quebec's spodumene along with OTHERS which they did not specifically name as they did with Sayona.
Then there is Medaro Minings strategically located Lithium Projects - namely their Darlin and Rapids Li projects which you can see by the attached map are located just north of Tansim and Lac Simard and just South of the highly advance Authier and everything and everyone else IN BETWEEN !!. They also have the highly prospective but less likely opportunity of their Lac La Motte project which is located just to the south west of NAL and on the same side of the dividing waterways of the Harricana River which separates Authier from NAL.
And the thing about Mendaro is that they too have the rights to some ground breaking closed loop lithium spodumene patented HLT process technologies through their 100% earn in JV ( presently at 60% acquired ) with the Vancouver based ( which is where Medaro is based as well ).Global Lithium Extraction Technologies.
So we have this tapestry of the emerging Lithium Corporate Landscape set up and obviously evolving from here with firstly the continuing expansionary phase of the tenements acquisition and critical mass of the potential HUB tonnages. We then have the ever changing and exploratory Technologies which are designed to eek out higher grades of lithium at lower cost and carbon ESG footprint concurrently catching up and now almost running alongside the pure extraction side of the supply chains
Add to this the fact that the Federal and Provincial Governments of Canada are ring fencing their critical minerals commodities supply chains and at the same time inspiring a ' ripple ' on effect of the exploration tax benefits ,....and ' Voila ' you have the almost perfect storm for not only a continuing level of Corporate amalgamation and consolidation but an even HEIGHTENED level of activity to continue. Particularly during these times of market uncertainties together with economic and financial funding uncertainties.
In other words when you couple the current ' scare mongering ' and uncertainty of the market at this particular time , what you get is a perfect time to ' Strike ' and expand your business model through connected , ' ripple on ' JV's which not only increase your HUB through puts , but also through the acquired or ventured technologies , the lower cost and lower ESG credits of the HUB projects and their unit costs of production. And of course you also have the significant Byproducts side of the equation as well going on here.
And why not BOLT or JV with other prospective partners with their technologies and potential HUB add on's. Because in the end , it BOTH reduces the project risks through cooperation with others and where other projects may or may not be scrutinizes as well as it leverages off each others enhanced ' Exploration ' tax regime incentives as well as their capital raising initiatives in each of their own expedited concurrently running drill campaigns. So it speeds everything up by ' trickling ' down and spreading the available investors' funds towards a common objective of proving up more resources for any given HUB.
So the organization that does this right will be the one who will be at the centre of the conceptual and realized established HUBs.
So while this post only touches on the mere sides of this thesis , it is clear by the below maps which highlights in the rose colored square the ' Everything IN BETWEEN ' players ( including Windsome and Vision Lithium as well as others ) , that their will be significantly more consolidation in this space in the near future - in my opinion. I mean do we even know yey who the individual Australians are who through Narrow River Resources just happened to strategically picked up the large parcels of tenements to the North of Tansim and Lac Simard just after they were incorporate in March 2021 and before the NAL deal with Sayona and Piedmont had actually gone through ........
So it is for ALL these reasons and more that I strongly believe Sayona and its Authier Project will be involved in some further Corporate Activity in which we see Authier being a cornerstone of a THIRD southern Abitibi Lithium HUB somewhere's between Cadillac Quebec and Tansim / Lac Simard district and one which may even see a venture with the aspiring Medaro Mining.
There are other ' Economic ' reasons I think this will occur and only time will tell. However , I feel as though with only 6 months remaining until Authier is allegedly supposed to be contributing 33% of the blended ore, something more will be revealed much much sooner than that .
And it got nothing to do with the BAPE or environment as such , but more to do with the crushing and ' quarrying ' and transport aspects of the Authier material than it does about anything else. And the Byproducts from commercially generated borrow pit materials alone will be significant with respect to Authier. Who or what Company will ultimately benefit from this is the question I have most on my mind and part of the reasons we are most likely not hearing much in regards to the so called ' revised ' PFS .......
ie we need the outstanding 3 Westerly diamond drill holes , and we need to know who is likely going to be involved in the primary ore crushing and separation of waste rock byproducts.
Anyways , that's where were presently at in my opinion , and its definitely time for Sayona and perhaps others to distribute , spread and put ALL their chips on the Table . And if not now in the next several weeks it will definitely be soon I reckon.
(20min delay)