Overview
As the push for greener energy powers on, demand for electric vehicles has risen significantly from 2.1 million units sold in 2020 to 4.5 million the next year, according to LMC Automotive. The electric vehicle market cap exceeded the one for the combustion engine for the first time in late 2021, hitting $1.52 trillion compared to $1.47 trillion. And the U.S. government has also announced plans to target 50 percent electric vehicle sales share by 2030, mirroring similar efforts in other countries. Despite this, the supply of lithium is falling short. Major lithium producer Rio Tinto lost its license to produce the element, leaving a vacuum in the market for mining companies. And, as S&P Global Market Intelligence analyst Alice Yu states, “The lithium market is extremely tight at present, so spot prices are very sensitive to any supply disruptions.”
Canada finds itself in a unique position when it comes to domestic lithium production, given that it contains an abundance of opportunities for lithium mining. The country is the site of four major lithium properties in Manitoba and the Northwest Territories, and the multitude of active local mining firms, as well as historical mining activities in the area, prove the viability of the region for lithium exploration. One mining operation, for instance, has already invested into an ongoing 15,000-meter drill program. As Foremost Lithium CEO Scott Taylor told INN regarding this competitor, “I expect a steady pipeline of highly encouraging results in the next several months— of a prospective Snow Lake “Lithium Lane” emerging from the data. We will continue to advance this prospective Lithium Lane thesis in similar fashion as Frontier Lithium’s (FL.V) Electric Avenue, a premium lithium mineral district located in Northern Ontario..”
The government of Canada is on board as well, listing lithium as a critical mineral “vital to growing Canada’s clean, modern economy.” The element will play an essential role in the future economic security of the country, as well as its transition to a low-carbon economy. The government also aims “to position Canada as the leading mining nation, as set out in the Canadian Minerals and Metals Plan (CMMP).”
Foremost Lithium Resource & Technology (CSE:FAT, OTCQB:FRRSF)
is a green energy technology company focused to build one of the first North American companies to ETHICALLY and SUSTAINABLY produce battery-grade lithium hydroxide from our Snow Lake Lithium projects. The Company’s focus is to form strategic partnerships with lithium-battery manufacturers to supply the ever-growing global EV battery market.
Foremost Lithium is the second largest lithium exploration company in Snow Lake, Manitoba, and the business strives to use best-in-class methods to produce lithium in accordance with Canadian mining and exploration standards while reducing environmental impact whenever possible.
Foremost Lithium currently manages three main lithium properties: Zoro, Jean Lake and Grass River, all of which are within the mining-friendly town of Snow Lake, Manitoba. The area, housing a combined total acreage of 30,846, is ideal for current and future exploration, and it’s geographically close to “Auto Alley,” which contains the strategic infrastructure needed to streamline production and logistics. Foremost’s land position connects with Snow Lake Lithium (NASDAQ:LITM) and 1911 Gold (TSX-V: AUMB)
The company aims to grow its inventory of lithium-rich hard rock deposits through comprehensive and systematic drilling. Contrasting to the previous management teams who have failed to perform any considerable activities in the past few years, Foremost Lithium is ready to make productive contributions to the electric vehicle market by processing its first production of lithium-rich spodumene ore into battery grade lithium-hydroxide concentrate to prove the quality of its assets.
On January 6, 2022, the Company announced that it has received a permit from the Province of Manitoba to extract a 500kg bulk sample from its Zoro Lithium Property.
The Company plans to extract a 500-kilogram bulk sample of lithium mineralized spodumene-bearing pegmatite from Dyke 1 on its Zoro Lithium Project. The bulk sample will be shipped to a reputable third party for metallurgical testing and process development. A 2020 peer reviewed technical publication co-authored with SGS Mineral Services concluded that spodumene-bearing pegmatite from Zoro Dyke 1 can be processed using industry standard metallurgy to produce a 6% battery-grade lithium (Li2O) concentrate[1]. The goal for the upcoming 500 kg bulk sample is to demonstrate that pegmatite from the Company’s Zoro Lithium Project is suitable to produce battery-grade lithium hydroxide (LiOH) thereby making it viable to market its lithium to strategic partners prior to development.
Overall, Foremost Lithium has multiple factors in its favor. It’s located in the mining-friendly Manitoba region with jurisdictions supportive of its activities. Its dedication to domestic lithium production avoids many of the ethical and geopolitical concerns of many foreign locations. The pre-existing infrastructure, including roads and power lines, helps save on costs. Drill samples obtained from initial exploration have shown promising deposits already. Finally, the professional and experienced management team understands the mining industry and how to operate a company to methodically advance lithium exploration and deliver early-stage production results.
Company Highlights
- Foremost Lithium is ready to accelerate operations at an ideal time when lithium demand will skyrocket thanks to the growing electric vehicle market, which will likely hit 48 percent by 2030.
- The company is the second largest lithium exploration firm in Snow Lake Manitoba, having increased its land holdings by 14,873 acres to a total of 26,276, a 130 percent increase since change of management occurred only in December 2021.
- Foremost Lithium operates in a mining-friendly region that is accessible and contains developed infrastructure.
- The company’s future growth potential is immense as the Snow Lake region boasts 26,000 acres, of which 95 percent is yet to be fully explored.
- All of Foremost Lithium’s projects involve hard-rock spodumene pegmatite deposits, proven to be the most cost-effective and efficient choice for battery metal used in electric vehicle manufacturing.
- Among the company’s projects, Zoro has obtained a permit to extract a bulk sample and is already on track to deliver 6 percent battery-grade lithium hydroxide..
- The enthusiastic management team is ready to develop these properties and drive shareholder value in a responsible and ethical manner.
Key Projects
Grass River Lithium Project
The Grass River Claims (GRC) spans 27 total individual claims by Foremost Lithium in the Snow Lake Manitoba mining district. The region was originally a site of mineral exploration for base metal massive sulfides, gold, uranium and lithium in the 1950’s. Today, Foremost Lithium aims to bring modern geophysical and geochemical technologies as well as strong working-capital to the exploration of the GRC. The intention will be to take advantage of these lithium assets and respond to market opportunities promptly to generate shareholder value.
Project Highlights:
- Drilling Potential: Various pegmatites are already visible in the region, and 7 pegmatite dykes bearing spodumene have been indicated by drilling.
- Broad Investment: Foremost Lithium has made itself the largest lithium exploration firm in the Snow Lake Manitoba region, having raised its footprint from 14,873 acres to 26,276 acres.
- Historical Interest: The Manitoba Mining Recorder was an assessment of the region dating back 60 years. While canceled, that project did serve as the basis for determining the locations of pegmatites on the GRC.
- Combining Old and New: Foremost Lithium will drill the targets indicated by historic and modern exploration data to be high-tonnage lithium deposits.
- Multi-Step Process: Foremost Lithium will commence exploration in the early Spring of 2022 by prospecting the outcrop areas for pegmatite, performing a Drone-Assisted Magnetic Survey, and using Mobile Metal Ions technology to find new drill targets.
- Favorable Market Conditions: Despite lingering supply deficits, the worldwide demand for lithium is skyrocketing, reaching 641,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent in 2022 despite a supply of only 636,000. The price of lithium carbonate in China is up 531 percent this year as well.
Jean Lake Lithium-Gold Project
Foremost Lithium staked its claims in lithium and gold in the Jean Lake property, consisting of 5 claims spanning 2,500 acres. Without any modern exploration since 1942, the property boasts an unparalleled amount of drill potential for high-grade lithium, especially along the Beryl Pegmatite Lithium Trend.
Project Highlights:
- Mining-Friendly Location: The town of Snow Lake is accepting of mining operations, having been used as an exploration opportunity for base and precious metal production. The surrounding area is also well-known for gold-rich deposits and lithium resource developments.
- Pre-Existing Infrastructure: Foremost Lithium will have year-round access to property-wide power, an airstrip, a highway and a rail system all within close proximity.
- Surveying: In response to the discovery of Beryl lithium pegmatite in mid-2021, the Manitoba Mineral Development Fund recently granted $300,000 for UAV-assisted magnetic and LIDAR surveys. The results of this survey were released on March 1st, 2022. The Jean Lake results are tremendous with regards to the trends of magnetic lows. They correspond with the locations of the Beryl pegmatites on Jean Lake and are on trend with the Sherritt Gordon and Grass River pegmatites on Snow Lake Lithium’s ground (NASDAQ:LITM). One can now see several high-quality drill targets. There are two domains identified by the Jean Lake survey. The magnetic lows in the northern sector of the property that correspond to pegmatites and potential pegmatites and the southern/southwest sector which documents the magnetic highs that correspond to our gold assays and to the magnetic anomalies being drilled by 1911 Gold Corp on their ground to the west of Foremost
- Thompson Brothers Lithium Trend: This area has been estimated to house 9,082,600 tonnes of lithium-bearing ore with Li2O concentrates ranging from 1.00 percent to 0.98 percent. It also contains the Snow Lake Resources Sherritt Gordon and Grass River pegmatites. Jean Lake sits directly to the south of Snow Lake Lithium’s claims and there is a prospective “Lithium Lane” which connects the known pegmatite dykes and interpreted lineaments on both properties.
- Additional Resources: In addition to lithium, gold mineralization has been found here too with assay results of up to 20.9 g/t gold. There’s also the economically viable beryllium in the region, which can be used in gears and cogs for the aviation and satellite communication industries.
- Future Potential: Snow Lake Resources Ltd. claims 8 to 10 years of potential production totaling 160,000 tonnes per annum of 6 percent lithium concentrate.
Zoro Lithium Project
20 kilometers east of Snow Lake, the Zoro Lithium Project boasts 16 claims of lithium resources over 8,900 acres according to initial exploration programs. Zoro Dyke 1 offers an inferred 1,074,567 tonnes at 0.91 percent Li2O. Metallurgical testing on the site also verifies a high-grade lithium concentrate of 6 percent Li2O that can be extracted using industry-standard methods. The Company is drilling ten new lithium targets in March 2022 and will be doing more advanced metallurgical testing in May. The goal for the upcoming metallurgical testing sample is to demonstrate that pegmatite from the Company’s Zoro Lithium Project is suitable to produce battery-grade lithium hydroxide (LiOH) thereby making it viable to market its lithium to strategic partners prior to development.
Project Highlights:
- Ideal Environment: In addition to Snow Lake’s mining-friendly history and Manitoba’s affinity for mining investments according to the Fraser Institute, the area also has excellent infrastructure, such as mines, rails, power and a skilled workforce.
- Comprehensive Exploration: Prospecting efforts combined with soil geochemical surveys and five diamond drill programs have added up to over C$5 million in exploration expenditures and the discovery of 12 new pegmatite dykes.
- MMI Technology: Where geophysical signature detection has failed, MMI soil geochemical analysis has pinpointed pegmatite dykes, a 36.5 meter wide D8.
- Additional Property Options: On top of the aforementioned Dyke 1, the Zoro project also has complete ownership of the Green Bay and Manitoba Claims, the former of which includes seven spodumene-bearing pegmatite dykes. While the Manitoba option is yet to be explored, the capability of the surrounding area underscores its own potential as a mining opportunity.
- Additional Metals: Zoro does not operate on lithium alone. There have been samples of tantalum and niobium, chemically similar metals used in alloys among other applications, found as well.
- Future Potential: Despite thorough exploration efforts, management believes that only a third of the property has been explored and that additional discoveries of lithium pegmatites in the Zoro region are extremely likely.
Hidden Lake Lithium Project
45 kilometers northeast of Yellowknife, the Hidden Lake Lithium Project spans 4 claims spread across 4570 acres and is in an ideal location to take advantage of the increased demand for lithium by the renewable energy sector. In fact, the Yellowknife Pegmatite District is often considered the largest lithium resource in Canada, boasting at least 55,000,000 US tons at 1.41 percent L2O.
Project Highlights:
- Lithium Rich: Prospects show at least 10 spodumene pegmatite dykes bearing lithium. They range between 275 meters and 790 meters in length with a lithium concentration of 1.03 percent and grades up to 3.3 Li20.
- Efficient Extraction: Using standard industry lithium techniques, test runs have managed to extract 97 percent of the element so far.
- Accessible: In addition to the Ingraham Trail Highway, the site can be accessed by charter helicopter or float plane.
Winston Gold and Silver Project
While not necessarily in the lithium market, the Winston Gold and Silver Project still exemplifies Foremost Lithium’s flexibility and diversification when it comes to fulfilling shareholder value. Initial sampling shows high-grade findings like 41.5 g/t gold and 4610 g/t silver, which were later expanded upon.
Project Highlights:
- Proven Potential: Historic drilling from the 1980s has shown that high-grade ore shoots are possible, making this region a low-risk opportunity.
- Expanding Claims: As Foremost Lithium boosted its claims from 415 acres to 2980 in the region, sampling rates rose significantly with grades of up to 66.5 g/t gold and 4,619 g/t silver.
- Additional Mines: The Little Granite Mine and Ivanhoe-Emporia Mines both have shown potential in gold and silver in the past and are within reach of this project.
Management Team
Scott Taylor – CEO & President, Director
Scott Taylor is a successful entrepreneur with a strong background in financial markets. Born and raised in Vancouver, he has over 20 years of direct experience in finance, energy, mining, defense, and civil engineering. Scott started his career raising money for both public and private markets, as well as mining projects in commodities trading. He continued in commercial finance in Moscow, Russia, with Delta Credit and then moved to Switzerland, where he intermediated commodities transactions for a private family office in Lugano, Switzerland. Scott has held positions spanning ownership (start-up founder), executive management and leadership, technology development, software commercialization, business development, technical sales, and product marketing.
Mark Fedikow, P. Geo -VP of Exploration
Dr. Fedikow has over 40 years of experience as an exploration geochemist and a mineral deposits geologist working in both private and public sectors. He is a Fellow at the Association of Applied Geochemists, where he’s previously worked as a councilor. Dr. Fedikow, who has also served on numerous industry-related committees, also pioneered the application of regional multimedia geochemical and mineralogical surveys in support of base and precious metal and diamond exploration in Manitoba. During his 45-year career, he has worked for a variety of junior and major mining exploration and mining companies in addition to the Manitoba Geological Survey as Chief Geologist of the Mineral Deposits Section. In 2001, he received the Provincial Geologists gold medal, a Canadian national award for excellence in the geosciences. In 2002, Mark left the Manitoba Geological Survey to start his own company, Mount Morgan Resources Ltd., to provide consulting services to the metal and hydrocarbon exploration industry. He is currently registered as P.Eng. and P.Geo. with Engineers Geoscientists Manitoba (“EGM”), as P.Geo. with the Northwest Territories and Nunavut Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists (NAPEG), and as a Certified Professional Geologist (C.P.G.) with the American Institute of Professional Geologists (“A.I.P.G.”), Westminster, Colorado, U.S.A.
Pierre-Yves Tenn – Chief Global Officer and Board Member
Pierre-Yves Tenn holds an MA in International Relations and Diplomacy. He is an innovative and focused International sales leader, business strategist, and global representative. He has the vision and leadership skills required to introduce, position, and promote business development and sales for corporations in international markets. He offers 20 years of proven experience in the development of international strategies, business, trade, sales, and commerce, both domestically and abroad. Pierre-Yves is an accomplished strategist, communicator, and consultant with the diplomatic acumen and talent needed to close major sales, negotiate contracts, and manage both minor and major projects. Some of his key strengths include strategic planning and global growth, as he’s well-versed in the marketing of North American critical minerals to key players in Asia. He also knows how to access investment funds and conduct international business promotion, marketing joint ventures, and negotiations.
Andrew Lyons – CFO and Board Member
Andrew Lyons has over 30 years of experience in program and project management in the public market, financial, and technology sectors. He holds a BSc(CS) Cand BBA from the University of New Brunswick, an MBA from the University of Ottawa, and a PMP from the Project Management Institute. Andrew is well-versed in corporate governance of organizations in the private, public, and non-profit fields and has worked with the private sector, public companies, and governments involving scope, budgeting, capital funding, and project management. Recently, he has consulted with several mining companies, worked with senior management and boards, and negotiated on the use of proceeds. Andrew was on the advisory board of two Canadian mining companies: Lida Resources before it went public and currently Lakestone Resources. Andrew brings proven leadership working at a C-suite senior management level with corporate experience in the mining sector, utilizing his over 35 years of experience as an independent consultant to help drive business forward through development and implementation of enterprise-wide information technology solutions. He most recently consulted with several mining company senior boards to refocus their operations and streamline costs.
Victor Cantore – Advisor
Victor Cantore is currently the President, CEO, and Director of Amex Exploration. Cantore is a seasoned capital markets professional specializing in the resource and hi-tech sectors. Having begun his career in 1992 as an investment advisor and then moving into management roles at both public and private companies, he has more than 20 years of advisory and leadership experience. During his career, he has organized and structured numerous equity and debt financings, mergers and acquisitions, joint venture partnerships, and strategic alliances. Finally, Cantore serves on the boards of various companies both private and public.
Lindsay Bottomer P.Geo – Geoscientific Advisor
Lindsay is a Vancouver-based geological consultant with over 45 years of experience in international mining exploration and development. He most recently focused on epithermal gold and porphyry copper-gold exploration in the American Cordillera and Central Asia. He recently retired from Entree Gold after 10 years as VP Acquisitions/Corporate Development, with major involvement in exploration of the Oyu Tolgoi North and South concessions in Mongolia. This venture led to the discovery of the Hugo North Extension Cu-Au and Heruga Cu-Au-Mo porphyry deposits. He also led the acquisition of the Ann Mason Cu-Mo porphyry deposit in Nevada. He and company founder Keith Anderson conducted the initial site visit to the Winston project and recognized the potential for high grade silver-gold mineralisation in the historic mining camp that had been dormant since the early 1980s.
Michael Feinstein, CPG, PhD – QP
Dr. Feinstein is an Arizona-based Economic Geologist and Consultant with more than 15 years of experience leading mineral exploration projects for clients in the USA, Mexico, and Canada. As founder and primary of MineOro Explorations, he has managed the exploration and evaluation of more than 40 properties. He has significant experience with Tertiary Volcanics and Low-Sulphidation Epithermal Vein Systems and has worked in Applied Field Geology, Ore Deposit Genetics, and 3D GIS. During an exploration project in Alaska, Michael identified previous drill errors and conceptualized the development of the currently-running Dawson Gold Mine on Prince of Wales Island. A mineral exploration initiative he led in Arizona generated the Chloride Gold Project, which is currently being explored. Fluent in English and Spanish, his favorite quotations are “discoveries are made in the field” and “whoever sees the most rock wins.”