James Bay Minerals’ world class lithium team seeks ASX listing

There is no doubt that the James Bay region of Canada is one of the hottest destinations for companies looking to join the lithium “boom” and now a new Australian explorer is set to test the riches of its namesake area.

James Bay Minerals is targeting the raising of $6 million dollar through an initial public offering (IPO) to explore an already significant portfolio of assets in the Quebec district in Canada.

The company is offering up to 30,000,000 shares at an issue price of $0.20 per share to raise its $6 million target.

Once the capital is raised, James Bay Minerals is planning to hit the ground running on its significant suite of assets.

Ready to hit the ground running

With well known mining identities in key management positions, the company has already put together what it describes as one of the largest lithium exploration tenures in the James Bay region of Quebec – with 224km of holdings located within key greenstone belts and along major regional faults.

The initial focus will include the Joule, Aero and Aqua targets within the large La Grande project area. Notably those three targets are located along strike of the highly prospective Corvette and Cancet deposits currently being explored by ASX-listed Patriot Battery Metals (ASX: PMT) and Winsome Resources (ASX: WR1) respectively.

Impressive management and board

James Bay Minerals has pulled together a highly-regarded team with important lithium industry experience.

It is being led by executive director, Andrew Dornan, who brings 18 years of senior commercial management experience with a range of major and mid-tier international mining organisations including Australian lithium developer Pilbara Minerals (ASX: PLS), Fortescue Metals Group (ASX: FMG), Newmont and Rio Tinto (ASX: RIO). He has also worked as a consultant with Tianqi Lithium.

Non-executive chairman Gerard O’Donovan’s background includes significant Canadian experience as chief executive officer of Ontario-based Battery Age Minerals. He brings critical lithium experience through his role as the project manager for Pilbara Minerals, overseeing the development of the Pilgangoora mine for production.

Fellow non-executive director and geologist, Judy Baker, has 8 years of experience as a director of Nemaska Lithium Quebec, developer of the largest spodumene deposit in North America, and founder of Lithium Canada Corporation.

Another non-executive director, Dean Ercegovic, was the founding director and chief operating officer of Primero Group where he spent over 11 years. Primero now operates in multiple regions globally (including Quebec) and is an industry leader in the design, construction and operations of lithium processing facilities.

High-profile targets to test

The director and the company’s experienced exploration team have a number of highly prospective projects in prime James Bay locations to follow up.

The company currently holds 104 claims and has entered into three binding agreements under which it will, subject to the company receiving a conditional admission letter from the ASX, 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.

Upon listing admission, the company will utilise 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.

La Grande offers many potential targets

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 (LGGB), where collectively, the La Grande and Opinaca sub-provinces host a significant number of the known spodumene pegmatite occurrences in Quebec.

Currently La Grande consists of three distinct prospects:

• Joule prospect, comprising 205 claims (covering an area of approximately 10,498 hectares) located 50km southeast of Radisson;
• Aero prospect, comprising 89 claims (covering an area of approximately 4,366 hectares) located 150km east of Radisson; and
• Aqua prospect, comprising 63 claims (covering an area of approximately 3,225 hectares) located 190km east of Radisson.

Troilus a significant target in a proven area

Notably, the Troilus project in the Southern James Bay region is located just 5km from Sayona Mining’s 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.

The project sits in the western portion of the Upper Archean Frotet- Evans metavolcanic belt, Québec’s second-largest Archean greenstone belt, comprising the central part of the Opinaca Sub province.

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 which occurs in granite pegmatite and aplite dykes.

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

With a large portfolio located in a high-profile destination and an experienced team, James Bay Minerals is ideally placed to take advantage of a lithium market that is forecast to grow significantly in coming years.

Once the IPO is completed, James Bay Minerals is looking to list with an ASX code of ‘JBY’.

More information about James Bay Minerals’ IPO can be found on the Small Caps deals page.