Without adequate supplies of battery metals, the goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 cannot be reached. Here are eight companies who are on the hunt for the metals in North and South America.
Brunswick Exploration (TSXV: BRW) is a junior on a mission to find and develop a hard rock lithium source. This company concentrates its efforts on greenfield exploration, looking for new and undiscovered deposits. It has land packages in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, and the Atlantic provinces that host at least 125 pegmatite dykes.
Its management team is led by two men who were previously with the Osisko team. Executive chair Robert Wares was one of the three original founders of Osisko Exploration, which discovered the Canadian Malartic gold deposit in Quebec and a founder of Osisko Mining (TSX: OSK). President and CEO Killian Charles was vice-president corporate development for Osisko Metals (TSXV: OM; US-OTC: OMZNF).
The team is looking to repeat their success in gold exploration with lithium at its early stage projects.
In Nova Scotia last year, prospecting at Brunswick’s South Mountain Batholith (SMB) property yielded grab samples returning up to 380 ppm lithium. Resampling of historical drill core produced up to 730 ppm lithium. Work done in the New Ross area identified a 1.8-km trend that remains open to the north, south and west.
Prospecting was also conducted at the Caledonia, Hawkshaw and Catamaran properties early last year. The most promising results were from Catamaran, returning anomalous lithium content that potentially indicates the presence of lithium-cesium-tantalum (LCT) pegmatites. Nineteen till samples returned between 58 and 90 ppm lithium. Multiple spodumene pegmatites and coincident lithium till anomalies were noted.
The team also conducted work at the Port-Aux-Basques, Hermitage and Rencontre East projects in Newfoundland, but did not identify any prospective pegmatites.
Earlier this year, Brunswick raised C$7.5 million and kicked off its 2023 exploration season. The money is earmarked for work at its properties across Canada.
