And when I say ' Politicking ' in my above post, I mean the increasingly intermingling and interwovenness of the interconnecting players of the Lithium Industry .....and how many roads can point back to a certain ' background ' relationship or relationships which can give rise to a ' preemptive ' move to protect or enhance ones FIRST market mover advantage.
Now I've talked a lot previously about RIO and at least another of the other Iron Ore players as well as another budding Vanadium hopeful in terms of the most recent Troilus Frotet-Evans Greenstone belt claims acquisition. We've also talked about Sumitomo Metals Canada and their proximity with their venture with Kenorland Minerals. We've also discussed extensively the other relationships in other ' neurology ' regions of the Cadilac area south of Authier and North of Tansim / Lac Simard areas. We've talked about Ontario as well in so far as emerging potential HUB's emanating from Thunder Bay and surrounding regions and players.
And we know that Sayona has not only paid a lot for the Troilus package - thereby allowing potentially ' Other ' side JV's for various other minerals and / or royalty streams , they have obviously also scooped up access to potentially LARGE amounts of common or ' shared ' exploration credits.
So with the Troilus deal , it is not as stright forward beneficial because Sayona has to expense the CEE where Troilus is not likely to give up or share its own accrued CEE eligible exploration expenditures.
But what if there was a project that made perfect sense from an amalgamation point of view , and that another JV earn-in to 100% could be achieved in the interest of fast tracking ' Near Term ' development , shared feasibility expenditures , and shared exploration expenditure credits for future exploration funding.
And imagine that this strategy around lets Say MOBLAN is only but ONE single tentacle of a greater strategy which could even involve Authier down in the Abitibi HUB.
And imagine further that this could perhaps ALL be achieved through a JV of both exploration and project development commitment as well as 100% future earned in ownership by Sayona .
And I'm speaking of course of Victor Cantore's Vision Lithium Inc who whilst being very highly accredited within the Quebec mining circles with his President and CEO of Amex Explorations and Chairman of Vision , he seems to tailor himself as a bit of a ' Free Agent ' of sorts given his recent specialist consulting and projects advisory role at Australian listed Pure Resources who as many here would already be aware has prolific pegmatite ground North East of Patriots new corvette discovery.
In the relationship stake we also have Winsome who through their invested stake player Power Metals , and the posturing around their potentially lucrative LCT play at Case Lake - Power only less than a month after on-boarding Winsome ends up forwarding on its albeit infant but very highly prospective LCT showing at what was its Gullwing-Tot Lakes property which is logically situated adjacent to the North East of CRR's Mavis Lake , and which gives CRR contiguous claims holdings to ALMOST double that of which they already had and were staking themselves in that prospective area.
So what I'm getting at here is that its ALL about the tonnage YES , but its all about the proximity and control of the land packages in creating the much needed LARGE HUBs with minimal environmental footprint at the end of the day.
And you can only really achieve all these ESG and environmental outcomes if you have tenure and control over these large pegmatite field areas. So its not only the nature of the Business , but also a product of the type of Geology for these types of minerals.
So here's where it could get a little bit interesting in so far as how this ' Political ' power broking overlay on the industry including how I.Q and Resources Quebec figure into it ( their overall plans right ) might work out in favor of Sayona and its NEW FTS investors.
For those who are not aware , only 11 days ago Victor Cantore's Visions announced a PEA for its highly regarded near surface Dyke 5 on its Sirmac property 50 kilometres to the west of Moblan and Lac Albert. Now keep in mind that this was the Dyke originally drilled out by Nemaska before they on sold it to Abe Resources and before it became Vision Lithium . The early grades from these Simarc showings were in fact those which gave rise to the coined phrase ' Greenbushes of the North '.
So like Moblan the pegmatite bodies are near below surface which for Visions Sirmac have resulted in what amounts to a highly economical cut-off of only point 5% and an pre-tax IRR of 839% with a 1 year payback , and a post tax IRR of 484% still with a 1 year payback.
What's interesting is that they've come out with this now off the back of the original Ni 43-101 JORC of only 322,000 tons which is comprised of 192,000 tons measured , 81,000 indicated , and 49,000 inferred.
So the project JORC hasn't moved in over 10 years , and is the smallest NPV I've ever seen at pre-tax C$183.6 million and C$104.8 million post tax based on projected ' truck and shovel ' quarry style revenues of C$253.1 million revenues over a 4 year mine life and life of mine capital spend of only C$3.1 million .
What's extraordinary of course is that the revenues are based on only US$591 per ton ( C$797 ) based on DSO shipments at 1.33% Li20 with an overall DSO operating cost per ton of C$142 on an EXW to Chibougami with a secondary option of FOB Saguenay where it could be loaded at that port onto ships.
Of course ALL of this ' carrot on a stick ' release of a PEA comes without having a single EIS study being prepared as of the date of release on February 21st 2023.
And this is really quite strange for me because whilst there is extraordinary potential here with Vision's Sirmac property , there is still a considerable amount to do on it . But from a ' Merged ' project point of view , it could certainly be opportunistic to juice these sorts of early results into a bigger project. It's interesting also because Visions ( apart from its newer claims ) had a previous agreement for ALL spodumene products for LOM to be marketed or sold by the then Nemaska ( pre insolvency.)
So the question then becomes Why do it ....unless your goal is to say hey ' Look at me , and what we are doing with this small but extremely profitable project ' , and in the hopes you might attract one of your Neighbors like Winsome who is immediately east of them , or Sayona ......
Keep in mind also that as of last night when Vision's SP was up 7.14% , they are still only valued at a Market Cap of C$35.49 million or approximately A$39 million , so exceptional value if you can strike an ' exploration & mine start-up development ' project ' Jointly ' .
So a further exploration / expansion JV deal with Vision makes a lot of sense here - and especially as they also have a HUGE tenements package established BEFORE Winsome down in the Cadillac region of Quebec just south of Authier and North of Tansim , Lac Simard , Narrow River and some of the others I have shown previously on the forums.
So not only could we broaden and fastrack even further the Northern HUB operations , we could also have or inherit the beginnings of a THIRD southern Abitibi HUB which would incorporate Authier on a more acceptable and economical further reduced environmental footprint setting.
And Vision also have their highly prospective Godslith Lithium project in Manitoba which is just North West of Frontier's PAK , Spark et al in the Electric Avenue district of Ontario as well as almost due North from the massive former TANCO LCT deposit which has captured a lot of recent attention due the National Interest critical minerals review of projects by the Canadians.
So I guess if i was looking for some Venture which on paper could be highly advantageous in so many different ways , I would put my money on use of the FTS funds being on some sort of deal with Vision Lithium who would have an enormous amount of CEE carry forward credits potentially stowed away in its financial accounts. Another one to watch out for in the coming weeks if not days is the LCT results of Durango Resources 4 hole program on their immediately adjacent tenements to Sayona's newly acquired Troilus package.
And that could be another reason why this has been put together at what seems to be the 11 hour of the beginning of the PDAC mining conference in Toronto where Vision is at Booth # 2903 , Sayona at #2330 , and Winsome at #2143 - not that that means anything apart from the fact they are ALL in attendance as Greentech is also there at 2425(B) , Avalon Advance Minerals at #2303 ....Sprott Money who is invested in Troilus at #2812.....and Zijin Mining Group..... at #2448.
Another notable point worth mentioning here , and along the lines of some things just continue to point in ONE direction is the fact that one of the original founding Directors of Abe Resources which became Vision Lithium is none other than Robert Bryce who is now a Director of Jourdan Resources.........
I note that Mr Bryce's experiences are predominantly in projects where mining output came from the early stages of feasibility right through to production of between 4,000 and 7,500 tpa with the latter being obviously considerably larger than the current size of the NAL concentrator.
Irrespective , I do like the fact that he would ALSO know Vision Lithium and its operations, projects , and future plans Intimately....
That's it for me folks , but it gives you something at little something else to speculate on between now and Monday , Tuesday , or Wednesday......
(20min delay)