Grid Battery Metals (TSXV: CELL, OTCQB: EVKRF, FRA: NMK2) is staged for success as it develops its world-class lithium properties in Nevada.
It has been said many times that the shift to Electric Vehicles (EVs) in North America and throughout the globe is accelerating rapidly and that this is an undeniable consumer trend we are experiencing.
Auto manufacturers worldwide are producing more EVs for sale each year, both in terms of the number of car and truck model options available for consumers and also in terms of the number of cars produced.
Governments are stepping up with EV subsidies for both consumers and manufacturers, and auto manufacturers are increasing their manufacturing capacity. One example can be seen in the recent announcement by Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) to increase the capacity of a newly proposed Mexican manufacturing facility to produce over two million vehicles per year and commit to an investment of US$10 Billion in 2025.
A key component in the production of EVs is the exploration, mining, and refining of key battery metals like Lithium and Nickel. Canada and the US have committed to supporting the mining industry for these key battery metals, and recent legislation like the US Inflation Reduction Act confirms both financial and functional support to the mining industry as part of an overall long-term strategy for clean technology and progressive solutions to climate change.
Grid Battery Metals’ battery metals strategy
Grid Battery Metals has completed three financings in 2023 and currently has a cash balance of approximately CAD$6 million in its treasury and, in addition to this, over CAD$3 million in marketable securities on its balance sheet.
The Company was fortunate to have disposed of some of our non-core nickel assets earlier in the year to yield this very positive situation for the Company and its shareholders. The Company is proud to announce that it is fully funded for the 2023 and 2024 mineral exploration seasons.
The management team behind Grid Battery Metals Inc. is leveraging its knowledge of the battery metals sector to create its next winner. As a group, they have been successfully exploring metals used in the production of electric vehicles for over a decade.
They have had a number of successful exits from companies that they have created – the most recent of which was Surge Battery Metals Inc. (TSXV-NILI; OTCQX-NILIF), where they were responsible for the discovery of the Nevada North Lithium Project, which Surge recently announced results of up to 8,070 parts per million (ppm) lithium.
Grid’s President and CEO, Tim Fernback, stated: “Grid’s management and geological team has been actively exploring EV battery metals in Nevada for over a decade, and we have been very successful in finding and funding new lithium discoveries. Our team has been very adept at finding great properties in great locations.”
Under Mr Fernback’s guidance, Grid has shifted its focus to Nevada. “It is safe to say that we know Nevada, and we know Lithium,” continued Mr. Fernback.
Grid now has three highly prospective lithium properties in Nevada: Texas Spring, Clayton Valley, and Volt Canyon.
Texas Spring Lithium
The first of the Company’s lithium properties in Nevada is the Texas Spring Property, located in Elko County, which covers approximately 2,500 hectares and is contiguous with and immediately south of Surge’s Nevada North Lithium Project property.
The Company has recently completed the first phase of its initial exploration programme at Texas Spring. A detailed 50 X 100-metre soil sampling programme was undertaken with the goal of determining if the soils contain significant lithium concentrations at the surface.
In addition, a controlled-source audio-frequency magnetotellurics (CSAMT) geophysical survey was conducted to identify geological features at a depth that could be favourable for the accumulation of lithium. Results are pending and will be announced in the fall of 2023.
The Company owns a 100% interest in the Texas Spring Property, which consists of mineral lode claims located in Elko County, Nevada. The Property is in the Granite Range southeast of Jackpot, Nevada, about 73 km north-northeast of Wells, Nevada. The target is a lithium clay deposit in volcanic tuff and tuffaceous sediments of the Humbolt Formation.
The Texas Spring property adjoins the southern border of the Nevada North Lithium Project – owned by Surge Battery Metals Inc. (TSXV: NILI, OTC: NILIF) and comprised of 303 mineral claims. Surge’s first round of drilling identified strongly mineralised lithium bearing clays.
The average lithium content within all near surface clay zones intersected in the 2022 drilling program, applying a 1000 ppm cut-off, was 3254 ppm. (Press release March 29, 2023). More recent results have shown higher grade lithium up to 8070 ppm on this property after initial drilling (Press release September 12, 2023).
Clayton Valley’s resource potential
Another one of Grid’s highly prospective lithium properties in Nevada is the 2,300-acre Clayton Valley Property, which is immediately north of the Silver Peak Lithium Project that belongs to Albemarle Corporation (NYSE: ALB) and is home to North America’s only producing lithium mine.
Lithium within the Clayton Valley occurs both as brines contained within underground reservoirs or aquifers and as clay hosted deposits. Exploration with the Company’s Clayton Valley Lithium Property has focused on both brine and clay. Work completed within the property has inferred the existence of a graben that may be a sub-basin of the larger Clayton Valley basin and, in turn, may represent a secondary trap for lithium brines.
Volt Canyon acquisition
The Company’s third and most recently acquired Nevada lithium project is the Volt Canyon Lithium Property in Monitor Valley, Nevada. Grid has staked 80 placer claims covering approximately 635 hectares of alluvial sediments that are believed to have been sourced from claystone deposits.
This property features sediment-hosted lithium clay targets and has excellent accessibility, enabling exploration and exploitation throughout the year. Although limited exploration has been conducted in the immediate area, regional sediment samples in the region taken by the US government returned up to 108 parts per million lithium near the property.
Future development plans for Grid Battery Metals
Future exploration programmes on these lithium properties in Nevada are fully funded through to the end of 2024, as Grid is sitting on an enviable treasury of CAD$9 million. The treasury is made up of a combination of cash and shares in other publicly traded companies, such as a sizeable position in Surge Battery Metals, which recently traded as high as $1.55 per share.
Shareholders will soon benefit from another transaction that the Company is completing. Grid is planning on spinning out its subsidiary into a publicly traded company, and this Company will own Grid’s British Columbia nickel properties. These properties are in close proximity to FPX Nickel’s Decar Nickel District, which contains the large and world-renowned Baptiste nickel deposit.
FPX’s nickel deposit has been ranked by Mining.com and Mining Intelligence as the eighth largest nickel project under development worldwide as reported in the Canadian Mining Journal on March 28, 2022.
Tim Fernback commented, “In order to continue to create additional shareholder value, we are separating our Nevada-based lithium properties from our British Columbia-based nickel properties and plan on separately financing and taking the BC nickel properties public on the CSE. We believe this is a win for our shareholders, giving each shareholder an equity interest in a new public company at no additional cost to them.”
With the spinout underway, the management of Grid is now able to give its undivided attention to following up on its recent success exploring lithium properties in Nevada.
“As a management team, we are singularly focused on creating shareholder value. Every move we make takes shareholder value into account. The recent CSE listing announcement for our subsidiary is a case in point. It is a big win for the shareholders as we focus these companies on our world-class exploration assets.
“Our management and exploration team has been together as a group for a long time, exploring for lithium and battery metals for over a decade. We know the battery metals space, and we have been very successful exploring for lithium in Nevada, and that is what we are going to concentrate on with Grid,” concluded Tim Fernback.
