Patriot Battery Metals (ASX:PMT) reports it is ‘well positioned’ with a winter snow road to facilitate a longer drilling season at its Corvette Property in the Eeyou Istchee James Bay region of Quebec, Canada.
The road is now permitted for conversion to an all-weather exploration road.
The company says this ‘critically important’ road is expected to enable the drill program to be conducted through the months of October, November, and December, when fog in the region negatively impacts transportation by helicopters.
Additionally, Patriot is examining how quickly this road can be upgraded to facilitate a longer drilling season to make up for lost time due to ongoing wildfires across the region.
Patriot reports it has ceased all site-based work activities at Corvette and that all personnel have been demobilised until the wildfire situation improves, stating that the health and safety of its employees and contractors remains its priority.
Patriot adds the wildfires are having a minimal direct impact on the property, but helicopters assigned to the project have been requisitioned by the Government for firefighting activities in the province.
Until these helicopters are returned to the company, Patriot states it will be unable to conduct drilling activities on the property. However, the company notes it is continuing to work on the Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) scheduled for release in late July.
Despite impacting some of the work activities of the assay laboratory, the company does not expect this impact on the release of the mineral resource to be ‘significant’.
Meanwhile, the company adds it is also advancing its wholly owned exploration camp to further enable a more efficient drilling program going forward. This new camp will decrease travel time ‘significantly’ while also reducing the dependency on helicopters when combined with the all-weather exploration road.
These initiatives will be progressed as soon as the wildfire bans are lifted
These initiatives will be progressed as soon as the wildfire bans are lifted.
With activities now suspended, Patriot Battery Metals announces the situation is evolving continuously and the company is monitoring it very closely.
Patriot Battery Metals is an ASX-listed hard-rock lithium exploration company focused on advancing its district-scale, wholly owned Corvette Property in the Eeyou Istchee James Bay region of Quebec, Canada.
This property represents one of the largest and highest-grade hard rock lithium projects being explored, with more than 50km of strike length over a 214km-square land package and over 70 lithium-bearing pegmatite outcrops identified to date.
Write to Adam Drought at Mining.com.au
Images: Patriot Battery Metals Inc
