Oct 3 2016
Saint Jean Carbon Inc. ("Saint Jean" or the "Company"), a carbon science company engaged in the exploration of natural graphite properties and related carbon products, is pleased to announce the Company has entered in to an agreement to increase its lithium holdings by 27 claims, bringing the total claims to 109. The claims are contiguous with the Whabouchi Lithium Project the Company acquired in August 2016. The new claims are located in the James Bay region of Quebec and lie approximately 45 kilometres southeast of the village of Nemaska. The area is linked by a network of all-season roads to the mining centre of Chibougamau, 300 kilometers to the south. An airport and a network of high-voltage hydroelectric transmission lines service the area.
Paul Ogilvie, CEO, commented: "The added claims gives the Company a significant presence in the region where many other successful development operations are progressing nicely. We feel our properties give us a real advantage in our research and development work, which is being carried out at the universities. This enables us to move closer to being a full electric materials supply company in the future. These expanded claims also offer us greater areas to explore and attract joint venture partners. Our overall strategy to be able to supply the complete chemistry for an lithium-ion battery in future starts with owning the raw material."
The Property is comprised of one large block of 27 mineral claims covering 1,458 hectares (14.5 km2) located on the southern margin of the volcano-sedimentary Mountain Lake belt. The Property neighbours to the north Hinterland Metals Inc. and Durango Resources to the south. The Property is located approximately 15 kilometres southeast of Nemaska Lithium Inc.'s Whabouchi hard-rock (spodumene) lithium project. Nemaska's Whabouchi property contains measured plus indicated resources of 27,991,000 tonnes of 1.57 per cent lithium dioxide. Nemaska recently released a positive feasibility study that includes the construction of a mine and concentrator at Whabouchi and a hydrometallurgical plant in Shawinigan, Quebec. The mineralization hosted on the Company's property is not necessarily consistent with that hosted on Nemaska's, Whabouchi property.
The terms of the purchase of the 27 mineral licenses are a one-time issuance of 1,000,000 shares of the capital stock of the Company to the vendors upon TSX VENTURE approval of the agreement.
The Company will start a compilation of historic geological data relevant to the Property. A multiphase exploration program on the property will commence in late October or early November. The program will consist of prospecting and a detailed mapping of exposures of pegmatite granites, to be followed by ground geophysical surveys. If the initial rock sampling and geophysical results are favourable, a diamond-drilling program will follow.
Christian Derosier, P.Geo., PhD., is the qualified person (QP) as defined in National Instrument 43-101 and, acting on behalf of Saint Jean Carbon, has reviewed and approved the technical content of this news release.