Fabled Copper Corp. (FABL:CSE) announced it has found lithium in three pegmatite outcrops on its Volt 1 property in Quebec.
The samples were taken on one day in July because access was restricted to the site during much of the summer due to forest fires.
The samples returned 110.5 parts per million lithium (ppm Li), 82.5 ppm Li, and 21.6 ppm Li, the company said.
"The purpose of the sampling was to obtain typical pegmatite samples over the greatest area possible, in the fastest time possible," the company said in a release. "The three samples taken on outcropping pegmatites on a west-trending road in the central portion of the property are by no means indicative of the property potential."
Earlier this year, while waiting for drilling permits for copper, silver, and gold projects in British Columbia, the company announced it was moving to balance its holdings and acquired the OHM, Volt 1, and Volt 2 properties in the James Bay district.
"Quebec is going to become the lithium hub of North America, unequivocally," Fabled Copper President and Chief Executive Officer Peter Hawley has said.
The Catalyst: Important Battery Metal
The battery metal is important for the new green economy and used for the batteries in just about every gadget you have in your pocket and electric vehicles (EVs), but it is only found as a trace element in most geologic settings, the U.S. Geological Survey said.
"Earth's mantle contains 1.6 ppm lithium and the oceanic crust contains 4.3 ppm," the government agency noted. "The upper continental crust (that is, rocks typically at Earth's surface on land) contains an average of 20 ppm lithium. At this abundance, lithium ranks about 30th among the elements, behind copper but ahead of lead, tin, and silver."
The main goals of the quick survey at Volt 1 by Fabled Copper in July included checking accessibility conditions, seeing if the pegmatites existed and where, and determining whether to mount a more comprehensive field program.
A second-phase exploration program at the project has already begun with a team currently in the field, Fabled Copper noted.
"The volume of visible surface outcroppings on the higher portion of the property should allow a proper property wide evaluation," the company said.
More Sample Results
The outcrops sampled at Volt 1 were composed of fine-grained pegmatites composed mainly of quartz, potassium, feldspar, albite, and muscovite, the company said.
Fabled Copper said the results confirmed the presence of lithium, cesium (Cs), tantalum (Ta), rubidium (Rb), beryl (Be), potassium (K), and niobium (Nb) in all three.
Sample 28921 had 20.4 ppm Cs, 0.005 ppm Ta, 21.4 ppm Rb, 0.41 ppm Be, 0.28 ppm K, and 0.706 ppm Nb. Sample 28922 returned 13.1 ppm Cs, 0.01 ppm Ta, 63.1 ppm Rb, 0.41 ppm Be, 0.28 ppm K, and 2.63 ppm Nb. Sample 28923 returned 5 ppm Cs, 0.018 ppm Ta, 28.1 ppm Rb, 0.58 ppm Be, 0.18 ppm K, and 3 ppm Nb, the company said.
The Volt 1 property is made up of nine contiguous cells over 504 hectares. The Volt 2 property is made up of two contiguous cells nearby over 112 hectares.
Promising Results at OHM
Fabled Copper recently released results from first-phase sampling at another of its Quebec lithium properties, OHM, where workers outlined an 8-kilometer by 2-kilometer boulder field with a pegmatite outcropping.
Early reconnaissance on the central part of the property also confirmed promising potassium-to-rubidium ratios in two samples, an indicator for lithium.
Elevated lithium was also at least two of 19 samples taken in the boulder field, one that returned 45.8 ppm Li and another that returned 15.7 ppm Li, the company said.
Also in the James Bay district is Patriot Battery Metals Inc.'s (PMET:CA) Corvette lithium project, where the company discovered a 4.3-kilometer trend of spodumene pegmatite in 2017. Its market cap was nearly CA$500 million last fall. Now, it's CA$1.17 billion.
Other companies, such as Allkem Ltd. (OROCF;OTCMKTS), Critical Elements Corp. (CRE:TSX.V), and Investissement Québec and Livent Corp. (LTHM:NYSE) have had success developing lithium deposits in the James Bay area.
Chasing China's Dominance
Analysts at Canaccord Genuity wrote in May that they believed the market for that lithium will see deficits and elevated pricing.
"As such, we remain long-term bulls on the sector," they wrote.
The soft, silvery metal with highly reactive and flammable properties is a major component of EV batteries. It's also used to strengthen alloys, as a high-temperature lubricant, and as a drug to treat bipolar disorder.
Streetwise Ownership Overview*China only has less than a quarter of the world's lithium resources but controlled about two-thirds of the world's lithium processing and refining capacity in 2021, Rystad Energy said.
Ownership and Share Structure
According to Yahoo Finance, about 3% of the company is held by insiders. They include Director Luc Pelchat with 1.19%, David Smalley with 0.86%, and President and CEO Hawley with 0.65%, Reuters said.
The rest, 97%, is retail.
Fabled Copper's market cap is about CA$1.5 million, with 21.75 million shares outstanding. It trades in a 52-week range of CA$0.30 and CA$0.025.
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- Fabled Copper Corp. is a billboard sponsor of Streetwise Reports and pays SWR a monthly sponsorship fee between US$4,000 and US$5,000. In addition, Fabled Copper Corp. has a consulting relationship with an affiliate of Streetwise Reports, and pays a monthly consulting fee between US$8,000 and US$20,000.
- As of the date of this article, officers and/or employees of Streetwise Reports LLC (including members of their household) own securities of Fabled Copper Corp.
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