RE:RE:Price war coming?My posting of SA lithium picks was not a reflection on SA as every Company in the Lithium Sector has felt the effects of this brutal bear. It appears the lustre has come off of James Bay players as the reality has set in that bringing these monster deposits into production will be no easy task. The explorers are facing huge exploration expenses and once they have developed an MRE it will all boil down to infrastructure and of course cost per ton. If I had to guess the cost to mine these deposits it will be between $1200 to $1500 a ton. If for no other reason this is why I am very bullish on Case Lake. A near surface high grade deposit surrounded by all the infrastructure needed for mining. No need for a camp or building roads as you can drive onto the claims right off a main highway. Cochrane is a 40 minute drive with much of the employment in Cochrane being tied to mining. Two battery plants planned that are a seven hour drive from Case Lake. Hell Case Lake even has cell service.
As far as the previous drilling my guess is an MRE on the Main Zone should be 6,000,000 to 7,000,000 tons grading at 1.5% all of which is from surface to a depth of less than 82 meters. Hole 18-84 on the main hit 126 meters of pegs starting at 2 meters and returned over 46 meters of 1.5% lithium in two distinctive zones. The first zone returned 19 meters of 1.42% from 2 meters to 21 meters and the second zone returned 27 meters of 1.14% from 55 meters to 82 meters. Its well known that the best spodumene deposits occur in stacked zones. The first three drill holes into the main zone hit 26 meters of 1.94% from 20 meters to 46 meters, 16 meters of 1.23% from 28 to 45 meters and 15 meters of 1.74% from 35 meters to 50 meters. Now stepout to West Joe 1.6 klms from the main and the first three holes returned 10.9 meters at 1.75% from 23 meters to 33 meters, 17 meters of 1.45% from 1 meter to 18 meters and 14 meters of 1.87% from 37 meters to 51 meters. Not to mention up to 1533 ppm tantalum and 24% cesium. After nine weeks of on ground work they reported 10 to 15 meter wide spodumene bearing pegmatites near Dome 9 which is a totally unexplored Dome to date, 1.3 klms southwest of West Joe another new pegmatite with quartz veins containing molybdemun and in addition they identified through lidar nine additional pegmatite prospective new areas. This so supports Dr. Julies geological theory that the lithium resources are associated wirh the Domes on Case Lake of which there are 14 and to date mineralization has been discovered on 3/3 . This also supports Dr. Julies belief that Case Lake could host multiple deposits and therefore could become a district scale resource. The fact that the metalurgy work has begun will determine not only the recovery rate but also the ease of seperation of the Tantalum and Cesium. If the recovery and the seperation exceeds 70% there is absolutely no doubt that Case Lake could become the lowest cost Lithium Mine in North America. To support this thinking Lithium Royalties purchased a 2% royalty for $1,500,000 cash on a property that has yet to produce an MRE. Their DD team must have concluded that production on Case Lake is very probable. I believe the market has totally mispriced PWM and with an additional 15,000 meters of drilling it will be hard pressed not only to recognize its current value but also the blue sky. Just one mans thoughts!