What are the latest updates from Brunswick in 2022 and so far in 2023?

2022 for us was a year of a compilation of growth and laying the foundations for grassroots lithium exploration. 2023 is the execution year. We hold the largest land package in Canada, and our portfolio is still growing, but this is the year that we are putting teams in the field and looking at the targets we want to hold. This will be the focus for the rest of the year. In the second half of 2023, we will move into drilling the high-priority targets.

What do you feel your Québec properties, such as James Bay, hold in terms of lithium potential?

Québec is a core component of our work, and James Bay is an incredibly enticing area for lithium discoveries. We like to talk about the lithium triangle in South America, but there is nothing preventing the same kind of potential region in Québec. Brunswick, with our portfolio, is at the forefront of making materially significant discoveries in that space. 

Can you speak of your latest high-grade intersects at the Anatacau West Project?

We went directly to the ground to drill that opportunity and got a great intercept with 26 meters at 1.51% Li₂O. We will go back and drill it later this year. On the main Anatacau block, we have spodumenes cropping there and are extremely excited. We will make announcements soon, and I am convinced we will be there drilling in the second half of the year.

How can North America meet the lithium demand?

Today, we see an upheaval in the Canadian lithium market. We are for the first time building refining capacities in North America. We have not built a copper refinery in 70 years on the continent, but we are building lithium refining capacity. It now makes sense to have a local source of lithium. Canada is set to lead the charge in terms of lithium exploration, and we are just getting started. We need discoveries in Québec to feed North America, but also to feed Europe.

Is lithium-focused investment going more toward the production or the downstream value chain?

A downstream facility is just a chemical plant. It is a lot easier on the permitting side. When it comes to exploration, there are many more risk factors. This is why there has been a focus on the downstream. On the upstream side, investment is nowhere near as high as it needs to be. We are in a unique scenario now where we are building plants without the asset base supply to feed them. That puts pressure on the price: those facilities are going to get hungry. Decarbonization is not just the flavor of the month; without lithium and other critical minerals, we are stuck in an oil and gas economy. Decarbonization will affect every single one of us, and to achieve our goals for decarbonization we are going to need companies like Brunswick Exploration to find the necessary lithium.

What is Québec’s role in decarbonizing the world?

Québec has the potential to be a world-class supplier of lithium. When people think of oil and gas, they think of the Middle East, and soon they will think of Québec in the same way as a source of lithium. We need to get all stakeholders to realize that potential. The need is now, we need to push and make sure that everyone is involved to get this done as efficiently and sustainably as possible.

Why will Brunswick be a great story in the months ahead?

Our growth strategy is flexible. We are always on the hunt for future opportunities, whether it is staking new pegmatites in new regions, or through partnerships. We are open to transactions that allow us to make new lithium discoveries. With Brunswick operating on such a large scale, we can have multiple strategies.

The coming months will be about absolutely executing our exploration strategy. As we define these spodumene targets across our portfolio and start drilling them, that will take us to another level. I want us to find one and continue from there.