Costs down, studies progressing for Winsome's James Bay lithium...

Costs down, studies progressing for Winsome's James Bay lithium play

Adina resource update on track for the current quarter

Costs down, studies progressing for Winsome's James Bay lithium playAdina resource update on track for the current quarterJoshua SmithCredit: Winsome ResourcesCredit: Winsome Resources23 April 2024twitter_iconlinkedin-iconfb-iconCost management was the name of the game of Canadian lithium play Winsome Resources over the March quarter as it worked to upgrade the resource of its flagship Adina project in James Bay, Quebec.

Cost management was the name of the game of Canadian lithium play Winsome Resources over the March quarter as it worked to upgrade the resource of its flagship Adina project in James Bay, Quebec.

The explorer's bank balance fell by less than A$10 million over the quarter despite completing some 22,000m of drilling and publishing its first heavy liquid separation testwork results, which it claimed confirmed the potential to process Adina material via dense media separation.

Of course, location helps for cases like Winsome, not just in potential lithium finds — given James Bay's growing reputation as a global lithium hub — but also in regulatory and financial government support.

In Winsome's case, it pocketed a $3.2 million tax refund on its exploration expenditure over the three-month period. The company has previously explained that Quebec-based projects qualify for an exploration expenditure cash rebate of 38.75%.

It means Winsome ended the quarter with just under $44.6 million in the bank, or nearly five quarters of funding at this level of expenditure.

It's an overall net cost reduction of around $4 million compared to the December quarter when the company posted outflows of $13.6 million.

Adina currently has inferred resources of 58.5 million tonnes at 1.12% lithium.

The bulk of Winsome's exploration work over the quarter was dedicated to growing this resource, with headline infill results from the Main Zone including 68.1m at 1.11% lithium from 17.5m.

The resource upgrade is slated for before the end of June.

Looking ahead, Winsome has locked in an exclusive option to buy the shuttered Renard diamond mine 60km south of the Adina project, which includes a processing plant and other infrastructure.

With the Quebec court having approved the option and Winsome having paid a C$4 million option fee, the company said it was now advancing two study scenarios for Adina: a greenfield study that considered Adina as a standalone project with entirely new infrastructure, and a brownfield scenario to look at repurposing the Renard assets to process lithium from Adina.

While no strict deadline has been given, Winsome said it was on track to complete its Adina project studies before the end of the year.

Shares in Winsome were down 1.55% in morning trade to A$1.27, capitalising the company at $241 million. Winsome has traded between 55c and $2.09 over the past 12 months.