M3 Metals Corp. (TSXV: MT) (FSE: X0V) (OTC: MLGCF) recognizes there is a worldwide transition to a net-zero economy, and with that transition, an EV revolution is underway. It’s a revolution that expects to replace the 1.5 billion gas-powered vehicles currently on the road with electric vehicles powered by lithium-ion batteries. To accomplish this monumental task, a never-ending supply of lithium is a necessity. This fact is not lost on M3 Metals (M3M), an exploration and development mining company that is amassing a portfolio of promising and sizable lithium properties in two separate regions of the U. S. that have proven to be hotbeds for lithium deposits.
Currently, the company has two extremely encouraging lithium projects, one in Nevada and the other in California, and both lie in lithium-rich areas that exhibit the same type of mineralization as many major lithium discoveries in Nevada, including Lithium Americas’ (NYSE: LAC) (TSX: LAC) $4-billion Thacker Pass deposit. Researchers have stated that Thacker Pass could be among the largest sources of lithium ever found anywhere in the world.
Why is northern Nevada and the surrounding region so lithium rich? Two words, “McDermitt Caldera,” the remnants of a supervolcano that’s now believed to hold one of the biggest lithium deposits in the world. There’s lithium spread across the caldera’s 600 square miles — split between Nevada and Oregon. Thacker Pass and the surrounding northern Nevada area are near the southern rim of the remnants, where especially high-grade materials have been found. And M3M has taken advantage of the region’s promise by quickly staking a land package of 253 claims (Texas Spring Project) east of Thacker Pass in northern Nevada.
The company’s land package surrounds the high-grade lithium discovery at the Nevada North Lithium Project owned by Surge Battery Metals Inc. (“Surge”) (TSXV: NILI) (OTCQX: NILIF), a Canadian-based mineral exploration company that’s currently targeting 10-million tonnes of high-grade claystone-hosted lithium at the project. M3M is proving that timing is everything. When this opportunity presented itself to M3M, the company’s executives quickly moved to complete the acquisition, and since then, their efforts to buy up properties adjoining the Nevada North Lithium Project have led to an extremely beneficial joint venture between both M3M and Surge.
Surge has the option to acquire up to an 80% interest in M3M’s properties in exchange for (i) significant cash payments ($1.25 million), which offer M3M a steady flow of working capital, (ii) the issuance of common stock in Surge to M3M (5-million shares), and (iii) substantial exploration expenditures.
The commitment by the two companies has created a project of considerable size and scope in a lithium-rich region that even General Motors has recognized with its investment of $650 million in Lithium Americas’ Thacker Pass operations. This region is so promising that it has created the largest-ever investment by an automaker in battery raw materials, and it’s likely not the last investment automakers will make in the region.
In a preview of things to come with Surge and M3M’s adjoining properties, Surge announced in September that the company’s first certified analytical results for the 2023 summer drilling program at its Nevada North Lithium Project have returned multiple zones of high values ranging from 1,000 parts per million (ppm) to 8,070 ppm lithium, which were the highest grades for exploration to date on its lithium Project.
When discussing the joint venture with Surge, Kosta Tsoutsis, the Chief Executive Officer at M3M, said, “This opportunity fell into our laps and a joint venture with Surge will allow for strategic development of our land package while driving shareholder value as Surge assumes all of the costs associated with exploration and development of the project, while the company and its shareholders benefit from a percentage of what could be an incredible share of lithium pulled out of the ground on our Texas Spring Project.”
Additionally, in 2023, M3M acquired interest in the 2,641-acre (761 hectares) Lakshmi-Daggett Ridge Lithium Project (Daggett Lithium Project) located in the central Mojave Desert near Barstow, California, in San Bernardino County. It’s an area that hosts numerous historic and current mines and exploration projects. The project sits at the northern end of what is being called “Lithium Valley,” which is on track to become one of the world’s largest sources of lithium—positioning California to be the global hub for battery production and a leader in securing a clean energy future.
The Daggett Lithium Project is being described as an early-stage project with a lot of promise, but given the near-surface target area, this project is ideal for rapid development. Assisting in the potential for rapid development is the project’s location and the excellent surrounding infrastructure, including the town of Barstow, which offers labor and housing, nearby major highways, existing road access, and its location near major energy, rail, and gas transportation corridors.
The company’s California properties are made up of 96 staked Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and county registered lode-mining claims that encompass a 9-kilometer or 5.6 mile-strike length of exposed Barstow Formation clay-rich sediments containing exceptional levels of lithium. The company says because this project is a clay dominated, sedimentary-type lithium prospect, it has the same type of mineralization as the Thacker Pass deposit in neighboring Nevada. And the presence of a large, near surface geological footprint makes the Daggett Lithium project highly prospective for targeting a large lithium resource.
For M3M investors, the significance of the company growing a portfolio of promising lithium properties is that lithium is one of the world’s hottest commodities and the driving force behind electric vehicles. Simply put, lithium is needed to produce virtually all batteries currently used in EVs as well as consumer electronics, and the sheer number of batteries necessary to move the world forward in a net-zero economy is unimaginable. What this means for the demand for minerals like lithium is almost hard to comprehend, but what is clear is the metals and mining sector will be at the core of enabling what will be an incredible energy transition.
The need for an unlimited supply of batteries, and in turn, battery metals, accounts for the explosive value in the global battery market. It’s a market that was valued at $112 billion just two short years ago, and according to a recent report from Research and Markets, is expected to grow to more than $406 billion by 2030 at a CAGR of 15.9%.
S&P Global Mobility forecasts electric vehicle sales in the United States could reach 40 percent of total passenger car sales by 2030, and more optimistic projections foresee electric vehicle sales surpassing 50 percent by 2030. Given there are several factors contributing to the growing EV market such as increased consumer interest, government policies, and buy-in from the auto industry, it’s clear there is a powerful EV revolution underway, but that revolution will only last if it has power. Enter M3 Metals, a company in exactly the right place(s) at exactly the right time to capture its piece of the rapidly growing lithium market.
To learn more about M3 Metals, Corp. visit https://m3metalscorp.com.
About M3 Metals Corp.
M3 Metals Corp. is a Canadian listed Company, focused on creating shareholder value through discoveries and strategic development of mineral properties in North America.
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