James Bay Minerals set to list with big lithium reputation

Set to list on the ASX today, James Bay Minerals (ASX: JBY) is already attracting significant interest, particularly from close followers of the Canadian lithium market.

Named after one of the hottest lithium plays on the globe – the James Bay region of Quebec, the company is coming onto the ASX boards with a prime suite of exploration assets and a lot of interest generated by a successful $6 million initial public offering (IPO).

James Bay Minerals has now attracted the attention of Australian investment and wealth management company Seneca Financial Solutions.

Number one pick

In a recent note discussing the vast Australian success in opening up lithium development in Canada, Seneca Financial named James Bay Minerals as its top micro-cap lithium pick.

The firm’s chief executive officer and investment advisor, Luke Laretive, noted that James Bay Minerals holds one of the largest lithium exploration tenures in the James Bay play with around 224 sq. km of prospective ground.

With its projects located in an already proven lithium containing area in Quebec, Seneca also suggested that James Bay Minerals has the potential to discover a “globally significant resource.”

It noted that James Bay Minerals’ key assets are in the same geological formation as Patriot Battery Metals (ASX: PMT) and Winsome Resources (ASX: WR1), recent significant discoveries.

Ticks all the boxes

Mr Laretive wrote that James Bay Minerals meets Seneca’s 6-step investment criteria when assessing a greenfield exploration company.

This includes the fact the company is targeting a commodity with momentum in a tier 1 mining jurisdiction where there is potential for a world class discovery.

James Bay Minerals also ticked the box in having proven and well-respected management for a company with a clean, tightly held and unencumbered capital structure.

Lastly it found that James Bay Minerals is attractively priced with a $12m market cap and around $5 million in the bank on listing.

Early exploration plans

The company’s experienced exploration team has a number of highly prospective projects in prime James Bay locations for early follow up.

The company currently holds 104 claims and has entered into three binding agreements under which it will provide it with an opportunity to acquire a 100% interest in a further 333 claims.

Collectively, the 437 claims will comprise the La Grande Project and the Troilus Project in Quebec.

James Bay Minerals is planning to test its significant portfolio with a variety of state-of-the-art techniques including geochemical testing, geophysical studies, field exploration, mapping and drilling techniques to further define potential of its suite of mineral deposits.

Troilus a significant target

One of the eye-catching targets is the Troilus project in the southern James Bay region.

It is located just 5km from Sayona Mining’s (ASX: SYA) Moblan deposit, reported to be the largest spodumene deposit in Quebec.

Sayona has unveiled a mineral resource estimate for Moblan of 12.03 million tonnes at 1.4% lithium oxide.

Troilus consists of 80 continuous claims covering approximately 4,350 hectares in the Lac Assinica section of James Bay.

To date the geology of the Troilus Project is relatively unexplored, however, the primary type of mineralisation suggested by data and mineralisation from adjacent properties is lithium-bearing spodumene.

Along with Sayona’s Moblan project, Troilus also has location value due to its proximity to Vision Lithium’s (TSX.V: VLI) Sirmac project and Winsome Resources’ Sirmac-Clappier projects, located approximately 25km to the west.

Elsewhere, the company’s La Grande project consists of 357 claims making up approximately 18,088 hectares in northwest Quebec.

The property is situated within the larger La Grande River Greenstone Belt, where collectively, the La Grande and Opinaca sub-provinces host a significant number of the known spodumene pegmatite occurrences in Quebec.