Patriot Battery Metals starts Corvette approval process

Canada’s Patriot Battery Metals (TSX-V: PMET) has begun the process to obtain all necessary approvals leading to the development of the Corvette lithium property in the James Bay region of Quebec.

The junior said the submission of a preliminary information statement represented the first step in the environmental and social impact assessment process for the project.

“To progress to this point after just over two years’ worth of work is both a credit to them and points to the significance of the discovery,” chief executive officer Blair Way said in the statement.

Way said Corvette hosts numerous spodumene-bearing pegmatites including CV5. This was one of the pegmatite clusters subject of an initial inferred mineral resource estimate (MRE) announced earlier this year.

CV5, with a maiden mineral resource estimate of 109.2 million tonnes at 1.42% lithium oxide inferred, ranks as the largest lithium pegmatite resource in the Americas based on contained lithium carbonate equivalent. It is also one of the 10 largest in the world.

Quebec has become a hard rock lithium hotspot as companies vie to supply the surging electric vehicle market. The federal government approved this year the James Bay open-pit project by Galaxy Resources, a part of Allkem (TSX: AKE; ASX: AKE).

Azimut Exploration (TSX-V: AZM) is advancing its own James Bay project and Sayona Mining (ASX: SYA) restarted its North American Lithium (NAL) project in March, with of production of battery-grade lithium carbonate expected as early as 2026.