Vancouver-based hardrock lithium explorer Patriot Battery Metals on Tuesday announced a strategic investment of C$109-million by US lithium major Albemarle.
Albemarle will subscribe for 7.13-million shares at C$15.29 a share, for a 4.9% shareholding in the company, which is advancing the Corvette project, in Quebec.
Patriot will use the proceeds from the strategic investment to accelerate development of the Corvette project.
“We could not be more pleased to have welcomed Albemarle to invest in Patriot. I believe both Patriot and Albemarle can be a big part of building out the required front-end to the lithium chemicals supply chain in North America and Europe over the coming years. The additional funding will allow us to more aggressively advance the Corvette property through drilling, permitting, study work and more,” said Patriot CEO Blair Way.
On Monday, Patriot announced a maiden resource estimate for the CV5 deposit at Corvette, establishing it as the biggest lithium pegmatite mineral resource in the Americas. With a resource of 109.2-million tonnes at 1.42% lithium oxide and 160 parts per million tantalum pentoxide for a total of 3.84-million tonnes of contained lithium carbonate equivalent, CV5 is also the eighth-largest pegmatite resource globally.
At the closing of the strategic investment, Patriot will enter into a nonbinding memorandum of understanding with Albemarle to assess partnership opportunities to study the viability of a downstream lithium hydroxide plant integrated with the property and located in Canada or the US, including options in Quebec.
The strategic investment is expected to close on August 4.