U of M researchers, exploration firms team up for lithium hunt

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This article was published 19/06/2024 (484 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A pair of University of Manitoba earth science professors will partner with two lithium exploration companies on a $1.5-million academic grant that could lay the groundwork for sustainable critical minerals extraction in the province.

Prof. Mostafa Fayek had spent time trying to establish a lithium consortium in Manitoba to share best practices when federal academic funding body NSERC opened applications for an Alliance Mission grant that allows private-sector participants.

Fayek pointed out even though lithium is a high-profile mineral because of its inclusion in batteries needed for electric vehicles, there’s not much of a track record in Canada regarding its exploration and extraction.

The three-year project co-led by Fayek’s colleague in the U of M department of earth sciences, Prof. Alfredo Camacho, has ambitious objectives: advancing exploration techniques to identify new critical metals deposits in Manitoba; training the next generation of geologists in critical metals research; developing environmentally responsible exploration methods; and facilitating knowledge transfer and workforce development to support the growth of local Indigenous communities.

New Age Metals and Grid Metals, two exploration companies with contiguous properties that are both exploring for lithium in southern Manitoba, are key participants in the project.

There is another handful of companies active in lithium exploration in Manitoba, Fayek said. “Once we start producing really good results, we will get buy-in from other companies.”

The price of lithium has declined by about 80 per cent since its highs in November-December 2023, lessening the intensity of development work being done across the country.

Harry Barr, CEO of Vancouver-based New Age Metals Inc., which is the largest claim holder in an area around the Winnipeg River, about 140 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg, said his company has invested more than $10 million in exploration over the past few years.

New Age is fortunate to have partnered with Mineral Resources Ltd., an Australian company and fourth-largest lithium producer in the world. It funds New Age’s exploration work in exchange for royalties in any revenue that might be generated in the future.

Without its partner’s support, New Age would have a tough time funding such undertakings because investors have all but abandoned mineral exploration, Barr said.

“Nobody cares,” he said, referring to the bleak capital markets environment for junior mining companies these days.

That’s doubly perplexing, advocates say, since gold prices are very strong, which usually causes positive investment activity in other mineral exploration activity.

Barr said New Age is just about to send off its 2024 exploration plans to its Australian partners and believes it will have a smaller budget to work with this year.

In that context, the U of M project — which effectively will include about $250,000 of capital injection into New Age — was an easy decision to make.

Among other things the research will try to develop advanced exploration techniques to identify new critical mineral deposits.

“That’s what we’re all trying to do,” said Barr.

“We have a tremendous amount of data that we have produced and it gets jammed into a computer,” he added. “By participating, they will put it all together for us and use AI in certain circumstances to see if there is anything we missed because we did not have the technology.”

Fayek said the approach the project will take in advancing exploration techniques is to try to better understand why some rocks from similar formations might be enriched with lithium and some are not.

“One of the questions we’ll try to answer is: what are the processes that enriched lithium in certain areas and left other areas alone?” Fayek said. “Is it because some rocks form at a specific time or is it because they formed in a specific region or environment?”

Robin Dunbar, CEO of Toronto-based Grid Metals Corp., is operating in the same area of the province as New Age and both are neighbouring the operations of the Tanco (Tantalum Mining Corp.) mine, one of only two operating lithium mines in the country.

Grid is in the process of permitting one of its properties in advance of production.

“There’s a lot of outreach and engagement with groups we need to do before we submit our permit applications,” Dunbar said. “We have a good idea of what the resource looks like.”

He said the U of M researchers will bring geological mapping data that might anticipate where ore bodies are located.

“The more data the better,” Dunbar said. “We’re hoping when they have completed their work and as they progress, we will get some good insights into targets at our property.”

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca