PEA to determine expedient path to commercialization
Snow Lake owns 100% of the Thompson Brothers Lithium Project, located in Manitoba
Data review for resource update from the current 6.3mt @ 1.3 Li2O
Capital markets strategy
January 17, 2021, TORONTO, ONT. – SNOW LAKE RESOURCES LTD. (“Snow Lake”, “SNOW” or the "Company”) is pleased to announce it is commencing its Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) on the Thompson Brothers Lithium Project in Canada (the Project). This represents the next step in the process of moving from exploration towards the potential to establish commercial operations.
The PEA is expected to be completed in the coming months and will then be expanded into a Preliminary Feasibility Study (PFS) which will be used to seek funding for the development of the Project. The studies will review the test work, process design, vendor furnished equipment packages and preliminary design in addition to cost estimates for the development of a commercial spodumene floatation plant. In addition, they will examine permitting and potential environmental issues for the proposed floatation plant locations as well as operational expenditure (OPEX) and capital expenditure (CAPEX) which will be inputted into a general economic model.
Furthermore, Snow Lake has also undertaken a re-evaluation of the extensive drilling and other technical data collected over the past 50 years at the Thompson Brothers Lithium Project (Formerly known as the Viola Pegmatite Zone). This interpretation is being done in the context of considerable knowledge gained by Snow Lake on its Project in Manitoba and has highlighted excellent potential to update the resource before the PEA is finalised from the current reported resources number of 6.3mt @ 1.3 Li2O containing 86,940 tonnes of Li2O using a 0.6% Li2O cut-off grade with the deposit remains open to depth and along strike with the potential to increase the resource via future drilling. Lowering the cut off grade to add additional tonnes will also be investigated during the re-evaluation of the data.
In addition, Snow Lake has commenced a process to enable a listing of its securities on a New York exchange. Snow Lake will update its investors on the discussions and engagement of US investment banking partners that should expedite the process. Feedback continues to be positive from the US investor outreach program, with fund managers and other potential investors suggesting a US listing would make it easier for US investors to own shares in the Company, alongside a strong USA investment interest in EV related raw materials.
As previously noted, this process is a priority for the Company, given that the Project and the majority of its management are based in North America, the likely scenario that all products will be sold into the US market and the current valuations of US listed specialty industrial minerals companies.