- Automotive applications set to double lithium demand by 2027
- Even though lithium is a ‘critical mineral’, North American output is negligible
- Tests underway to confirm reported 1.2 million tons grading 1.51 percent lithium oxide
Good tidings continue to grace the lithium industry, the latest being the 2018 report from British minerals analyst Roskill. After a recent market analysis, the British consultancy estimated that lithium demand from automotive applications, which reached over 34,000 metric tons of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) in 2017, will more than double by the end of the decade. Some of that demand could be satisfied by QMC Quantum Minerals Corp. (OTC: QMCQF) (TSX.V: QMC) (FSE: 3LQ). The junior exploration company, based in Vancouver, British Columbia, is mining for lithium at Cat Lake, a property that hosts several rare-element granitic pegmatite occurrences, including the one on which the historic Irgon Lithium Mine was developed.
Automotive applications are driving lithium demand. They devoured over 34,000 metric tons in 2017 and accounted for 43 percent of total lithium utilized. That share of LCE output is set to climb to 83 percent; auto industry lithium demand is forecast to more than double by the end of the decade (http://nnw.fm/YI2ct). Supply is lagging far behind, and shortages are looming on the horizon, which has prompted the U.S. Geological Survey to include lithium on its “critical minerals” list, a declaration that undoubtedly places a premium on North American sources of the metal, like those owned by QMC (http://nnw.fm/obI4y).
Its Irgon Lithium Mine Project, located immediately north of Cat Lake, Manitoba, is home to several pegmatite dikes rich in lithium (Li), plus accessory cesium (Cs) and tantalum (Ta) mineralization. The former owner of the property, the Lithium Corporation of Canada Limited, carried out substantial underground developmental work, estimating the deposit to contain more than 1.2 million tons of spodumene-bearing pegmatite which graded at 1.51 percent lithium oxide. Overall, the Irgon Lithium Mine Property, covers 6,538 acres and comprises the Irgon occurrence and several other known pegmatite dikes on 13 adjoining mineral claims. Serendipitously, it is just 20 kilometers from Tantalum Mining Corporation of Canada’s TANCO Mine, North America’s most successful lithium mine to date.
QMC’s portfolio also includes two volcanic massive sulphide (VMS) properties – the Rocky Lake and Rocky-Namew, known collectively as the Namew Lake District Project – which potentially contain base metal-rich mineral deposits. These claims extend over approximately 23,000 hectares (~57,000 acres) in one of Canada’s most productive mining regions: the Flin Flon/Snow Lake VMS mining district of Manitoba, Canada.
Recently, QMC hired SGS Canada Inc. (SGS) to provide technical support and consulting services for the company’s 2018 field exploration and drilling program at the Irgon Lithium Mine Property. SGS will provide an experienced team of engineers and geoscientists with significant technical expertise in lithium pegmatite exploration and development that will review existing documents and geological modeling of the historical data in order to provide guidance to QMC on its upcoming 2018 field program and drilling campaign.
Moreover, the data acquired through the 2018 exploration program recommended by SGS will be used by SGS to compile a NI43-101 compliant technical report, which is expected to confirm and potentially increase the non-NI43-101 compliant historical reported resource of 1.2 million tons of 1.51 percent lithium oxide within the Irgon Dike. The technical report will also provide an estimate on the size of the other spodumene-bearing pegmatite dikes currently identified on the Irgon Lithium Mine Property, such as the Mapetre and the Central pegmatite dikes.
QMC announced in June 2018 that it had signed a non-disclosure agreement with an Asian-based manufacturing company which will allow the latter to test the company’s lithium mineralization identified by recent channel sampling of the Irgon Pegmatite Dike to see if it meets end-use requirements of the manufacturer’s customers.
For more information, visit the company’s website at www.QMCMinerals.com
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