Grid Metals (GRDM) - New Lithium Resource Q2, New Nickel Resource Q3

Grid Metals Corp. is a Canadian exploration and development company focused on the exploration of its properties in Manitoba and Ontario. The company’s asset portfolio holds nickel, copper, PGM, cobalt, palladium and lithium mineralisation. The Donner Lake Lithium project of the company is located in the Bird River Greenstone Belt of southeastern Manitoba, approximately 150 km from Winnipeg. The property is a joint venture between Grid Metals Corp. and Lithium Royalty Corp. The Makwa-Mayville Nickel-Copper combined project of the company consists of two NI 43-101 compliant open-pit resources and is located approximately 145 km from Winnipeg, Manitoba. The project contains nickel, copper, platinum group metals and cobalt mineralisation. The combined project holds 203 million pounds of nickel and 276 million pounds of copper in the indicated category amongst other metals and 24 million pounds of nickel and 55 million pounds of copper in the inferred category, amongst others.

The company on the 17^th of January 2023 released assay results from its ongoing exploration and resource delineation drilling program at its Donner Lake Lithium property. The drilling program consists of two drill rigs and is aimed at drilling along the interpreted strike extensions of both the Main and Northwest dike of the project. The assay results of the first six drill holes originate from the Main Dike Pegmatite and show highlights of up to 1.4% Li₂O over a mineral interval of 9.5 m as well as 1.6% Li₂O over 4.3 m and 1.7% Li₂O over 3.4 m.

Grid Metals Corp. plans to conclude with the exploration and resource delineation drilling program by the end of Q1 2023. The results of the program will be implemented towards the creation of a maiden mineral resource for the Donner Lake Lithium property which is aimed to be published by the end of Q2 2023. 

The company aims to publish an updated mineral resource estimate (MRE) for the Makwa Mayville Nickel Copper project by the end of Q3 2023. The updated mineral resource will incorporate an additional 18 drill holes and may enable the updating of the project’s preliminary economic assessment dependent on the results thereof.  

Grid Metals Corp. will continue its initiatives of showcasing the economics and production possibility of its mineral projects to the market in the future. The company plans on achieving this through the continued exploration of the projects and the creation of its envisioned mineral resource estimates for both the Donner Lake lithium project and the Makwa-Mayville combined project.

Donner Lake Lithium property activities

The Donner Lake Lithium property of the company is located in the Bird River Greenstone Belt of southeastern Manitoba, approximately 150 km from Winnipeg. The property is a joint venture between Grid Metals Corp. and Lithium Royalty Corp. Robin Dunbar, the president and CEO of Grid Metals Corp. characterises the results of the company’s drilling initiatives at the project as consistent with a good grade.

“To date at Donner Lake, we've identified two LCT pegmatites. We've drilled both of them now and we've gone back to the main dike in our drilling to put together a resource. I'd characterise the results as good grades and consistent.”

The company on the 17^th of January 2023 released assay results from its ongoing exploration and resource delineation drilling at the project. The drilling program consists of two drill rigs and is aimed at drilling along the interpreted strike extensions of both the Main and Northwest dike of the project. The assay results of the first six drill holes originate from the Main Dike Pegmatite and show highlights of up to 1.4% Li₂O over a mineral interval of 9.5 m as well as 1.6% Li₂O over 4.3 m and 1.7% Li₂O over 3.4 m. Dunbar explains that the company is conducting resource delineation drilling initiatives in increments ranging between 70 m and 90 m.  

“We're now in the process of effectively drilling off a grid pattern at 70 m to 90 m step-outs to put together an initial resource. Generally speaking, in that window, at the 800 m strike length of the main dike, we're seeing pretty consistent spodumene intervals, and that's the same at the northwest dike over the 600 m as well.”

The assay analysis turnaround times for the company’s drilling initiatives may take up to 9 weeks, but Grid Metals Corp. expects an average turnaround of 6 weeks.

Grid Metals Corp. plans to conclude with the exploration and resource delineation drilling program by the end of Q1 2023. The results of the program will be implemented towards the creation of a maiden mineral resource estimate for the Donner Lake Lithium project which is planned to be published by the end of Q2 2023. 

“We have 2 drill rigs going and we hope to finish about another 5,000 m within a month. That would be taking the main dike vertically along the 800 m strike length, down to between 300 m and 400 m. On the northwest dike, we have about 3,000 m planned to fill in the gaps. We actually mapped that pegmatite to the north where we hadn't drilled in the summer, so we're going to try to extend that a little bit as well.”

The company plans to allocate approximately CAD$ 2.5 million towards the creation of the maiden mineral resource estimate for the Donner Lake project, with other test work and exploration initiatives also planned to be incorporated according to Dunbar.

“We have other things going on. We have met work going on. We've got a drone survey going on. We're still processing samples from our field program from last year, we have a couple of thousand samples that are taking longer to get assayed because there are more of them. We've got an advanced exploration permit being prepared to enable a bulk sample. There is lots going on, so the total budget for that project right now is roughly CAD$ 2.5 million, plus we have to do the resource calculation. So, yes, lots of money is being spent.”

Cash position and market cap

Grid Metals Corp. has a current cash position of approximately CAD$ 10 million, with the private placement offering conducted by the company in September 2023 having added CAD$ 8.52 million to its treasury. The private placement offering also allowed various strategic shareholders to take a position in the company. Dunbar explains that the strategic shareholders consist of various companies ranging from the USA to Australia.  

“They were mostly Australian investors. Lithium Royalty was a participant. They were an existing shareholder, and then Primero Engineering, who's doing a lot of work in process engineering in North America in the lithium space. They were one of the larger subscribers. Then AMCI Group came in, which is a US private equity group that invests in projects. That's kind of the core group, then there were a bunch of HNWI Australian mining investors that participated.”

Grid Metals Corp. plans to increase its market capitalization in the future through various initiatives including improving the economics of its projects including the Donner Lake lithium project.

“Finding economic deposits. If you have an economic deposit and the market sees the value there, then your market cap is going to increase. That's really what the business is about, so that's what we're trying to do at Donner Lake and our base metal project.”

The company also believes that by undertaking a toll mining agreement with the Tanco mine, owned by the Sinomine Resource Group it will be able to further increase its market value by reaching production at an accelerated pace.

“What we're talking about is toll milling in the range of 200,000 tons to 500,000 tons per year. What that means is that we don't need as large a resource to be able to supply 200,000 tons, whereas if you have a standalone project and you need to build your concentrator, you might need 10 Mt to 15 Mt or more. It offers us a chance to get into production sooner because we don't have to build our concentrator, with a smaller resource and also faster.”

Makwa-Mayville activities

The Makwa-Mayville Nickel-Copper combined project of the company consists of two NI 43-101 compliant open-pit resources and is located approximately 145 km from Winnipeg Manitoba. The project contains nickel, copper, platinum group metals and cobalt mineralisation. The combined project holds 203 million pounds of nickel and 276 million pounds of copper in the indicated category amongst other metals and 24 million pounds of nickel and 55 million pounds of copper in the inferred category, amongst others.

Grid Metals Corp. is underway with the creation of an updated mineral resource estimate for the combined project. The updated mineral resource will incorporate an additional 18 drill holes, Dunbar explains that the company expects the resource to grow whilst keeping its further expansion potential.

“We're in the final throes of being able to publish a mineral resource. It'll be the Makwa-Mayville combined project. It's at the consultants and we're back and forth as to vetting what the numbers are going to be, but we're optimistic that we're going to have an increased resource and one that we're still going to be able to keep expanding.”

Dunbar explains that the company may look at conducting an updated preliminary economic study of the combined project, with its creation dependent on the project’s updated mineral resource estimate. The updated mineral resource estimate is expected to be published by Q3 2023. 

“The path we see to developing these projects is that at some point you bring in a strategic investor to help fund a feasibility study, which can be between CAD$ 10 million and CAD$ 20 million. They want to see a certain scale of the project, so if we see ourselves significantly increasing the resource and getting close to where we think we can dramatically increase the size of the deposit, then the scale of the project is going to increase and it would make sense to do more drilling and try to hit our target before we do a new PEA.”

Market communication and future initiatives

Grid Metals Corp. will continue its initiatives of showcasing the economics and production possibility of its mineral projects to the market in the future. The company plans on achieving this through the continued exploration of the projects and the creation of its envisioned mineral resource estimates for both the Donner Lake lithium project and the Makwa-Mayville combined project.

“What we're trying to do is explain to people where we're trying to go, what we have and where we're going. The key message for us is to get out that we think that we can make a mine out of what we're doing in both the lithium and the nickel. Lithium is kind of new to people. There are dozens of companies with lithium projects, so it's a crowded field. We think that as we put together a quality resource and differentiate ourselves and have a consistent message, people will start to clue in.”

Dunbar notes that should the quality and economics of the mineral resources for the Donner Lake lithium project be proven, the project will enter production, be it by Grid Metals Corp. or another entity.

“Whether it's us mining it or somebody else mining it, if you've got a project that can be mined, you've got to mine it or somebody else does. That's what we're trying to do.

We're not just trying to drill off a resource to say, hey, we've got a resource. People are looking for lithium resources, they're looking for off-take, and they're going to be in demand if we can put together a quality resource. That's job number one. We're trying to get that done as soon as possible.”

To find out more, go to the Grid Metals website