The recent discovery of a lithium deposit north of the town of Matagami revives the hope of a new mine of one of the strategic metals of the Quebec battery industry.
Published at 8:00 a.m.
Q2 Metals recently relayed exploration data suggesting profitable exploitation of the Cisco project, located approximately 150 kilometers from Matagami.
More precisely, the drilling resulted in lithium oxide contents greater than 1%. This threshold is considered to potentially lead to economic exploitation of the deposit, depending on its scale and several other factors, such as the remoteness of the site from civilization.
Several steps remain to be taken before measuring the full potential of the reserves, but one element allows the place to stand out compared to other deposits which have attracted the attention of the mining world such as Corvette and Adina: the Cisco project is less geographically distant.
PHOTO KARENE-ISABELLE JEAN-BAPTISTE, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Professor and author Michel Jébrak
“It’s the location that attracts attention,” explains Michel Jébrak, professor in the department of Earth and atmospheric sciences at UQAM and author of a book on the challenges of lithium transformation.
An essential element in the manufacture of lithium-ion batteries found in particular in the batteries that power electric vehicles, lithium is the lightest of all metals. It has become the backbone of the electrification of transportation and technologies to store energy on a large scale.
In Quebec, it occurs in a solid form in minerals such as spodumene, which is subsequently transformed to become lithium carbonate or even lithium hydroxide.
-The Q2 Metals project, headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, is less than 10 kilometers from the Billy-Diamond road, which joins Matagami, a junction between the Nord-du-Québec road network and the rail.
It’s so well located that it’s a project that could get a head start compared to the others. This is practically half the distance compared to other deposits in James Bay.
Éric Lemieux, mining analyst at EBL Consultants
“All the deposits further north, like Corvette, are great, they are very good, but they are too far in the current context,” adds Mr. Jébrak. They are currently burdened by very high transport prices. »
Before drawing conclusions about the Cisco project, the expert warns that we will have to wait to analyze other results, including those of the pre-feasibility study.
Eventful year
The last year has been eventful in the Quebec lithium industry.
After a restart for the Sayona mine last April following a temporary shutdown, Rio Tinto planted its flag in the wake of a US 6.7 billion transaction to get its hands on Arcadium Lithium, the company behind Nemaska Lithium, one of the flagship projects in the Quebec battery industry.
Rio Tinto will acquire half of Nemaska Lithium – 50% owned by the Quebec state – as well as a mining project valued at 380 million in the James Bay sector. Arcadium Lithium holds assets and properties elsewhere in the world, notably in Argentina.
On the TSXV Venture Exchange, Q2 Metal shares have exploded by around 215% over the past year to trade around 70 cents. This gives the company a market value of 95 million.
