Idaho Champion (CSE:ITKO, OTCQB:GLDRF) announced that it has fully financed the first phases of exploration on both its cobalt and lithium projects and the subsequent follow-up work through early 2023, following what it called a “pivotal” 2022 for the company in which it successfully closed several rounds of flow-through and non-flow-through private placements.
The discovery-focused exploration company noted that in the final quarter of 2022, it added to its portfolio by completing the acquisition of a 162 square kilometer prospective lithium pegmatite property package in the Eeyou Istchee James Bay territory of Quebec where Patriot Battery Minerals has made its recent Corvette discovery.
“Our technical team has always believed in the potential of our Idaho cobalt ground, and with Jervois' operations expected to reach name plate commercial production early this year, it made sense to build a new focus around these properties,” Idaho Champion (CSE:ITKO, OTCQB:GLDRF) CEO Jonathan Buick said in a statement.
READ: Idaho Champion closes first tranche of private placement for gross proceeds of $743,785
“Complementing our portfolio with the addition of strategically located lithium assets gives Idaho Champion (CSE:ITKO, OTCQB:GLDRF) the ability to diversify the discovery potential and explore year-round,” Buick added.
Idaho Champion said as a result of its new core focus, it was able to secure a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on April 20, 2022, with a far east Asian Battery Group outlining the terms of a potential joint venture (JV), including a multi-phase exploration program totalling US$5 million.
The company added that in anticipation of a larger program during 2023 stemming from the potential JV, it began a fall exploration program on the properties with an emphasis on the Twin Peaks and Victory cobalt/copper projects, in which 19 samples were collected and a prospective copper-cobalt vein was identified.
Results from the sampling results are currently pending and the reconnaissance work and further compilation of historic data will form the basis of the second phase of exploration in 2023, according to the company.
Idaho Champion is a discovery-focused exploration company that is committed to advancing its highly prospective mineral properties located in Idaho and, shortly, in Quebec.
The company has four cobalt properties in Lemhi County in the Idaho Cobalt Belt. It has also been advancing the Baner gold project in Idaho County and the Champagne polymetallic project located in Butte County near Arco.
Contact Sean at sean@proactiveinvestors.com