Green Technology Metals targets 2024 development, feasibility for Seymour lithium project in Ontario
ASX-listed Green Technology Metals (ASX: GT1) is working towards a feasibility study for its flagship Seymour lithium project in northwestern Ontario, and targeting production as soon as 2025.
The Perth-based company said on Apr. 12 it has completed more than two years of baseline data and project engineering in support of ongoing permit applications.
“We have successfully expanded our team to include experts in permitting, community consultation and project studies within the Ontario region,” said GT1 CEO Luke Cox, in a release. “Exploration will continue across the region as we develop our resources that will feed a centralized processing hub at Seymour and in parallel the team will continue to work through the environmental studies, permitting and development discussions with our Indigenous community partners.”
Green Tech has opened offices in Thunder Bay as well as in Toronto to support the progress of its preliminary economic assessment and feasibility study for Seymour, targeted for the first half of 2024.
According to a resource update from last June, the North Aubry deposit at Seymour hosts indicated resources of 5.2 million tonnes grading 1.3% lithium oxide (Li2O) and inferred resources of 2.6 million tonnes grading 0.9% Li2O. The South Aubry deposit hosts inferred resources of 2.1 million tonnes grading 0.5 Li2O.
Green Technology has formally submitted its project definition for Seymour to the Ontario Mines Minister which will confirm its provincial environmental assessment requirements. Seymour is located just east of the township of Armstrong, and about 230 km north of Thunder Bay.
The company said it is also advancing the mining lease process that will allow it to extract and sell minerals, subject to the lease terms.
99-ton sample
Green Tech has collected a 99-ton lithium-cesium-tantalum (LCT) pegmatite bulk sample from its North Aubry target. The sample was taken to the Saskatchewan Research Centre in Saskatoon, Sask. for metallurgical pilot test work to optimize the lithium converter process that is part of its integrated project study.
A total of 15,290 metres across 69 holes have been drilled at the Aubry and Pye East and West Limb targets of Seymour to date. At Pye West, the company noted near-surface high-grade intercepts of 13.9 metres grading 1.53% Li2O in hole GTDD-22-0350 and 14.4 metres grading 1.38% Li2O in GTDD-22-0360.
In June, Green Technology plans to resume field exploration at Seymour which will include prospecting, mapping and soil sampling, and mark the first work at the unexplored 91.4-sq.-km North Seymour tenement blocks. Resource definition drilling will resume in August.
After nine months of assessing more than 50 potential sites in the region, GT1 also said it has secured a land package in Thunder Bay and entered a letter of intent for its planned lithium conversion facility. That acquisition is still subject to environmental due diligence to determine permit approval eligibility and acceptability to the local community. The company has also appointed Roger Souckey as vice president for HR and Communities to support Indigenous consultations.
In a research note on Apr. 12, Canaccord Genuity analyst Timothy Hoff gave Green Tech a speculative buy rating given the company’s pre-production status.
He put a price target of A$1.80 ($1.63) on GT1 shares, significantly higher than their price on Monday on the Australia Stock Exchange of A62¢. The shares have traded in a 52-week window of A49¢ and A$1.24. Green Tech has a market capitalization of A$159.9 million.
Seymour consists of 151.4 sq. km of claims that include four main targets: Aubry Complex, Pye East Limb, Pye West Limb and Forsythe. Green Tech is targeting the first spodumene production at Seymour for 2025 and first lithium hydroxide production for 2027.
In the wider region, the explorer holds a total of 408 sq. km of claims including at Seymour, Root and Wisa with which the company holds an 80% interest under a joint venture with Ardiden (ASX: ADV). It also has lithium exploration claims at the Allison and Solstice targets, all of them located in the Archean greenstone belt.
