Categories: Base Metals / Energy
Topics: General Base Metals / General Energy

Patriot Battery Metals (CSE: PMET)(OTC: RGDCF) President Blair Way on Start of Phase-One Drill Program at Corvette-FCI Copper-Gold-Silver-Lithium Property, Quebec

Gerardo Del Real: This is Gerardo Del Real with Resource Stock Digest. Joining me today is the president of Patriot Battery Metals — Mr. Blair Way. Blair, good to get an update from you. How are you?

Blair Way: I'm doing great, Gerardo. It's always great to give an update, especially with all of the exciting things we have going on at our Corvette-FCI property.

Gerardo Del Real: Well, you've clearly captured the market's attention after what seemed like months and months of just sideways trading and not very much volume, to be frank. 

It seems like now that you're being a bit more vocal, and the company is more visible, that people are really starting to get excited about the potential for lithium and copper. And then, of course, we have gold in Idaho. 

But the flagship right now, and the property that's generating the bulk of the interest, is the Corvette-FCI property. You just announced the mobilization of the drill rig to the property. Can we speak about why you like it… why the geos and the technical team are so excited about the property… and what comes next?

Blair Way: Absolutely. As you said, we've had some quiet time. But we have been working to a plan, and it takes time for all of those moving pieces to come together. And they really have come together. And it's super exciting to see the drill rig being unloaded by helicopters and moved onsite. And very soon, we'll be talking about collaring our first hole. And that's going to be in the next day or so. 

The mobilization has gone exceptionally well. Our team onsite is just hitting it out of the park, so as to speak. And they're on, as you mentioned, the Corvette-FCI property. And that's a property that we've been busting to drill for some time. And we’re finally putting the drill on there. We're going to test our lithium trend, which is a huge trend; never been drilled before.

We've got 25 kilometers. We’ve focused in on our CV5 and CV6 pegmatites as we've identified them. It's a 220-meter-long outcrop area. And we're drilling all around there to just better understand; we've seen samples on the ground at 4% lithium. So we're super excited about that. 

And then, the copper trend is something we've talked about before. We identified it in our 2019 program on the last day. So they've now been onsite. They've got grab samples that are going to be getting assayed coming up in the next few weeks. And now the drill rig is going to be on there drilling that. 

And that's something completely new. That copper trend… no one was aware of that before our 2019 program. And now we're drilling it. So super, super excited about both of these two targets that we're drilling.

Gerardo Del Real: So just to be clear, you have two separate trends, right? You have the 25-km-long CV lithium trend, and then, separately, and you're testing both of these, you have a 10-km-long Maven copper-gold-silver trend. Is that accurate… just to give it some context?

Blair Way: Yeah, absolutely. They're two quite massive trends. Quebec is an enormous province, and we've got a ton of ground there. So we're not drilling all 25Ks, as you can imagine. We're focusing in on the areas that we've been able to identify. 

But we have this 25 km trend of lithium at site, and it was part of the original field work that was done on the ground there. Was looking for gold, and this lithium came to light. So the drilling of it is something that has been on our list of things to do, and we are finally doing it. And it's great! As I said, I'm hoping to hear about some core coming out of the ground very soon.

Gerardo Del Real: Well look, it's exciting for me as a biased shareholder. I always disclose to everyone, if I'm speaking to someone publicly, I'm biased, obviously, or I wouldn't be speaking to them publicly. But look, you're going to be drilling 15 to 20 drill holes for approximately 2,000 meters of NQ size coring. So obviously, these are going to be shallow, relatively shallow holes. But that's a pretty substantial test for a first pass program.

Blair Way: Absolutely. And with the lithium, with the outcrop, we have probably more confidence on what we have there but the drill will confirm some of the depth perspective of it. And then also, the other holes that we're drilling on the copper, we've done the geophysics. Some of that geophysics data feeds us to help us better target our copper drill holes. It doesn't do anything for the lithium, as you can imagine, but for the copper — it's definitely a big help.

So that's one of the reasons we did the IP. That's been wrapped up. The guys are checking that. So we're drilling the lithium first because we know where that is from outcropping and what have you. 

But with the copper, that targeting will happen a little bit later, or the actual drill holes will be a little bit later. So we're tackling the lithium first and then in the copper. And our expectations are — we're pretty bullish on the thing, obviously, as you mentioned — we're certainly biased. We believe in the property and we believe the drill is going to deliver for us. And we couldn't be more happy to have the drill on the ground right now.

Gerardo Del Real: Well listen, back in February, and, again, it seems like nothing happened for a long time, and then all of a sudden you hear the stock has ran up pretty quickly, right? 

But back in February, I spoke with VP of Exploration, Darren Smith, at the time, and he was as excited as I've heard a geo in quite some time and just eager to get the drill program started. 

So congrats on getting the rig mobilized. And I, for one, am looking forward to the results as they start trickling in.

Blair Way: Absolutely. And that’s good. I'd forgotten that Darren had spoken to you. But yeah, he's very excited. And our geos like working in this area. And it's a spot that hasn't — as I've said before — hasn't been tested with a drill rig. So it's great to be part of that activity.

We'll have to try and get Darren back on again, and he can fill you in on some of the progress that we've made post-drill program and assay results. But yeah, he always loves to talk about the property so he’d be happy to be on with you.

Gerardo Del Real: Look forward to it! Let's hopefully have him back on while we're celebrating a discovery or two!

Blair Way: Sounds like a plan, Gerardo. I'm onboard for that!

Gerardo Del Real: Blair, thank you so much for your time. Thank you for the update.

Blair Way: Thanks, Gerardo. It's always great to catch up and, certainly, yeah, let's just keep in touch. There's lots to talk about in the coming weeks, and I can just keep you and investors informed. 

But also, we're looking at putting pictures and things up so people can see some of the activity on the ground… helicopters slinging rigs and drill rigs drilling holes and the like.

Gerardo Del Real: Fantastic! Thanks again, Blair.

Blair Way: Thanks, Gerardo. Talk to you later.

Click here to see more from Patriot Battery Metals Inc.