America ‘screwed’ unless it hurries lithium supply chain:...

America ‘screwed’ unless it hurries lithium supply chain: Brinsden

The former Pilbara Minerals MD sees America’s ‘huge lithium supply problems’ as a big opportunity for his new company Patriot Battery Metals.

1st December 2022
Barry Fitzgerald
Share Article

​

​

​

​

​

The former Pilbara Minerals MD sees America’s ‘huge lithium supply problems’ as a big opportunity for his new company Patriot Battery Metals. Thailand lithium explorer Pan Asia Metals eyes the same chance in its region. And Bellevue Gold MD Steve Parsons mentions the ‘D’ word as the countdown to production and cashflow gains momentum.
There is no such thing as a mining conference without a parade of upbeat presentations by explorers and would-be developers.
But it has to be said that Ken Brinsden took things to another level during the week at the Sydney leg of Resources rising Stars’ “Summer Series’’ conference.
Brinsden needed no introduction to the crowd as he is the guy who picked up the reins of Pilbara Minerals (PLS) in 2015/2016 when it was setting out to develop its world-class Pilgangoora lithium deposit.
Pilgangoora (and the adjacent Ngungaju operation acquired from the receivers of Altura early in 2021) now accounts for 10% of global supply of lithium raw materials, and continues to grow, with Pilbara now a $14 billion company.
Brinsden moved on from Pilbara in July and after a sabbatical of all of two weeks – “My two weeks of retirement were really well lived so don’t feel sorry for me” – he jumped at the chance to become non-executive chairman of the TSX-listed Patriot Battery Metals (PMET).
Patriot is coming to the ASX in a dual listing in a week or two after a small capital raise. On the strength of its Corvette lithium discovery in James Bay Region of Québec, Patriot has become one of the big performers in the lithium space in 2022.
“It is one of the world’s great discoveries in lithium raw materials of the last decade,” Brinsden, with his Patriot hat on, told the conference.
The company is working towards a maiden resource estimate in March next year. “Our expectations are that it will be a big one,” Brinsden said.
“But that’s just the start because the whole trend has outcropping pegmatites with spodumene, and each of them we have drilled so far has hit significant intercepts.
“Not to put too fine a point on it, that’s why I am involved. This is going to be one of the big hard rock projects globally and we are really just at the start. Again, think 2015/2016 with Pilbara Minerals.”
Noting that Patriot was not listed on the ASX just yet, Brinsden said those wanting to get on board with the Corvette story could always buy stock that night on the TSX. And some in the audience did just that, with Patriot shares jumping 7.3% to $C7.28 for a market cap of $C665m ($A732m).
One of the industry’s big thinkers, Brinsden said Corvette’s location in mining-friendly Quebec meant it was well and truly plugged into the fast-developing North American battery supply chain, and that of Europe’s, as distinct from it being a China story.
“EV adoption rates are rapidly scaling up but both (North America and Europe) have huge problems with respect to supply,” he said.
“Having discovered how big a challenge it is, they are now actively working at supporting these alternative supply chains so they can wean themselves off China in the coming years.
“I say years because it is not a quick fix. They are going to be reliant on China for the next five to 10 years but there will be – and there already is – big efforts to create these alternate supply chains that help the market grow.
“The maturity that should emerge in our project is really well matched to the maturing supply chain that is being built in North America and as such, this is a North American story now, and maybe European.
“It’s not a Chinese story. And I think that is very, very valuable for the corporate development that can emerge for the company as we get ourselves vertically integrated into that emerging supply chain in North America.
“Not to put too fine a point on it, they (North America) are screwed unless they get on with it because they will be reliant on China for quite some time to come unless there is a lot more action than there has been in the last and current decade.”