Frontier Lithium Files Year-End Financial Statements and Provides a Corporate Update
SUDBURY, ON, Aug. 4, 2021 /CNW/ - Frontier Lithium Inc. (TSXV: FL) (OTCQX: LITOF) (the "Company" or "Frontier") has filed its year-end financial statements, along with the management discussion and analysis for the period ended on March 31, 2021, which are now available online. Management is pleased to report that the company have advanced on many fronts. Important news and next deliverables are outlined below;
Exploration
In-fill drilling targeting the Spark deposit inferred resource commenced in the winter of 2020 and will continue in the fall of 2021. The Company expects to disseminate the balance of the Winter drill program results this month. The Summer 2021 drill program has been postponed to the fall of 2021 due to mandatory evacuation from excessive forest fires in northwestern Ontario, two of which are proximate to the PAK Lithium Project. The drill program will increase the confidence of the inferred resource for the Pre-Feasibility study ("PFS") requirements. In addition, some geotechnical drilling will also take place for the PFS engineering requirements and representative sample generation for further metallurgical test work programs.
The Company's primary focus is to realize its exploration target at the PAK Lithium Project to support a fully-integrated mining and chemicals company. As per its recent Preliminary Economic Assessment ("PEA"), the company has defined a resource with a minimum of 20-year project life by establishing 500,000 tonnes of Lithium Carbonate Equivalent ("LCE"). The PEA corresponds to 276,374 LCE tonnes from a combined PAK and Spark "open-pit" constrained resource using an internally estimated resource to reserve discount of 70%. As a result of the estimation, the company is seeking to upgrade approximately 8-10 of the 15.72 million tonnes (50-65%) currently defined as inferred resource at the Spark deposit to measured and indicated to base the PFS reserves on.
Development
The Company continues the assessment of lithium chemicals process and technology through its internal scoping study of various options (desktop, bench-scale and mini-pilot programs). A mini-pilot program is expected to deliver initial battery grade lithium hydroxide in the fall of 2021 that will display the resources potential and be used for marketing purposes. Final lithium chemical process selection will occur by the end of calendar 2021 and any final piloting required will subsequently take place to support the PFS. The company also continues the baseline environmental monitoring, including but not limited to, stream flow measurements, water quality sample collection, and weather station data collection.
"Recent in-fill drilling results from the Spark deposit and the Ontario government's support of our lithium chemicals process developments bolster our confidence, as can be seen by the highly accretive acquisition of the 2.5% Net Smelter Royalty that covered the Project's resource. Delivering a strong resource base that is wholly owned and royalty-free is essential to becoming a future producer of lithium chemicals for North America," said Trevor R. Walker, CEO & President. "We are focused on further resource upgrading, downstream mineral processing, chemical flowsheet test work, and process selection programs to deliver an ensuing Pre-Feasibility Study with positive economics and impact to our region."
Outlook
Lithium is the essential component for batteries in electric vehicles, grid-scale energy storage, and additional applications that are currently disrupting and de-carbonizing the transport and utility sectors. The fundamentals of the lithium market changed dramatically in late 2020 to the benefit of lithium producers.
The market signals substantial growth, especially for 2021 Cathode production that is forecasted to be 1,157KT around 60% growth year over year, and batteries sold 450 GWh about 50% increase compared to last year. The supply shortages of battery-grade chemicals, particularly hydroxide (see figure below), and other qualified materials, are expected to drive future lithium prices higher, resulting in potential equity market support for the Company.
Recent News and Corporate Matters
Frontier's CEO and President, Trevor R. Walker, recently joined Soar Financial for an introductory call. We believe their discussion acts as an informative summary for new investors while also providing existing shareholders with a brief update. You can view this interview and others on our YouTube Channel Here.
On July 13th, Frontier Lithium was called upon to support the announcement of a Strategic Innovation Fund of $40M towards the Mining Innovation Commercialization Accelerator Network (MICA). The Company's CEO, Trevor Walker, was invited to the announcement to address the investment's positive impact on the sustainable development of the Canadian mining, processing, and regional battery materials supply chain. Frontier has supported the initiative by publishing a letter of commitment towards advancing its lithium chemical processing research and developments. The program is a possible financial support option (amongst others) being assessed by the company. to assist with potential demonstration plant construction and operations. Demonstration may be required to validate certain process flowsheets for conducting technology and equipment validation and product qualification by OEMS requiring larger lithium chemical samples before commercialization can take place."
PEA Results Demonstrate $1.62B NPV with Fully-Integrated ProjectPublished in April 2021, Frontier Lithium's PEA results demonstrate compelling Project Economics, including a pre-tax NPV of $1.62 billion (@8% Discount Rate). Click here to access the Fully-Integrated PEA results. Frontier has now begun its PFS-related engineering work.
Spark Deposit Continues to Deliver: Best "Management known" hard rock lithium Intersection on the Continent Frontier intersects 340m of pegmatite averaging 1.68% li20 at Spark. Read more HERE
Promising Partnership: Provincial Government & Frontier On May 26, the Provincial Government invested $363,000 into Frontier Lithium and its extraction process for lithium. The funding will promote economic development in the north and highlights the provinces high mineral development potential. "We are investing in innovative mining and refining technology developed right here in northern Ontario," said Greg Rickford, Minister of Energy, Northern Development and Mines. Read more HERE
Confidence in Our Resource: Purchase of NSR The Company is confident in its resource's potential and purchased a Net Smelter Royalty from two private individuals. By strategically purchasing the NSR Frontier avoided much higher, longer-term costs associated with the Project's foreseen increase in value from its resource growth from the Spark deposit and ensuing future commercialization potential. Read More HERE
Frontier Lithium Continues to Strengthen Its Team: New Members
The Company recently acquired new members at both the executive management and board level. As the requirements of our project continue to increase, Frontier's team will continue to expand. Access the corresponding press release links below:
Dr. Naizhen Cao, Vice President of TechnologyFormer Chief Scientist for Tianqi Lithium, Dr. Cao, is a rare expert in the lithium processing domain.
Bart Meekis, Board of Directors As former Chief of Sandy Lake First Nation, Mr. Meekis will provide regional representation for the Oji-Cree peoples proximate to the PAK Lithium Project.
Greg Mills, Board of Directors Mr. Mills is the former managing director of RBC Capital Markets' Global Equities division and is on multiple RBC Capital Markets' Operating and Global Risk committees.
Marc Boissonneault, Board of DirectorsMr. Boissonneault is the former head of Global Nickel Assets for Glencore, a global mining and battery metals executive.
About Frontier Lithium Inc.
Frontier Lithium is an emerging pure play lithium company with the largest land position in the Electric Avenue, an emerging premium lithium mineral district located in the Great Lakes region of Northern Ontario. The company maintains 100-per-cent ownership in the PAK lithium project which contains one of North America's highest-grade, large tonnage hard-rock lithium resources in the form of a rare low-iron spodumene. The project has significant upside exploration potential. Frontier is a preproduction business that is targeting the manufacturing of battery-quality lithium hydroxide in the Great Lakes region to support electric vehicle and battery supply chains in North America. Frontier maintains a tight share structure with management ownership of approximately 25 per cent of the company.
About PAK lithium project
The PAK lithium project encompasses 26,774 hectares at the south end of Ontario's Electric Avenue, the largest land package hosting premium lithium-bearing pegmatites in Ontario. The project covers 65 kilometres of the avenue length and remains largely unexplored; however, since 2013 the company has delineated two premium spodumene-bearing lithium deposits (Pak and Spark) located 2.3 kilometres from each other. A 2021 preliminary economic assessment of a fully integrated lithium operation utilizing spodumene concentrate generated from the PAK lithium project resource to achieve downstream conversion for production of battery-quality lithium chemicals (NI 43-101 technical report titled "PAK Property" by BBA Engineering Ltd. issued on April 5, 2021) resulted in a posttax NPV8 per cent of $974-million (U.S.) with a 21-per-cent internal rate of return. Considerable exploration upside is supported on the PAK lithium project through two other spodumene-bearing discoveries; bolt pegmatite located between the PAK and Spark deposits, as well as Pennock pegmatite, a further 30 kilometres northwest of PAK within the project claims.
Forward-looking Statements
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements". All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts, that address future production, reserve potential, exploration drilling, exploitation activities and events or developments that the Company expects are forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward looking statements include market prices, exploitation and exploration successes, continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions. Investors are cautioned that any such statements are not guarantees of future performance and those actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. For more information on the Company, Investors should review the Company's registered filings available at sedar.com.
SOURCE Frontier Lithium Inc.
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