Sayona Mining (ASX:SYA) has announced a boost in its JORC-compliant mineral resource estimate (MRE) to 93.1Mt of ore at 1.21% lithium – a boost of 81%.
Based on its Moblan project metrics, the measured and indicated categories – higher confidence than ‘inferred’ in the JORC landscape – are up 59% in aggregate. They account for 70% of the total resource.
Sayona own 60% of Moblan; a Quebec investment entity owns the remainder. Sayona described Moblan as the centrepiece of its James Bay hub on Tuesday.
The MRE boost also precedes a 70,000m drilling campaign yet to happen in 2024 before the winter season. Tuessday’s upgrade comes on the back of integrating all 2023 drilling results – an addition of over 350 drillholes for 75,000m worth of data.
Mineralisation is interpreted to extend to a depth of 350m below surface.
“Increasing the total resource to 93.1 million tonnes at 1.21% Li2O represents a substantial enhancement of our strategic position in the North American lithium industry,” Sayona CEO Lucas Dow said.
“Looking ahead, the planned 70,000 metres of drilling in 2024 will further test the extent of mineralisation.”
HotCopper users received the news well on Tuesday morning, however, some repeated an inaccuracy: that lithium prices are rising.
Unfortunately, that isn’t actually true. UBS this week slashed forecasts and carbonate prices continued to dip overnight.
EV demand continues to weaken which further compels some commodity bears.
Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs analysts both see global lithium supplies now far exceeding where they were in the early 2020’s in which supply chain chaos and a market shortage caused insane gains for some lucky lithium shareholders.
The endearing popularity of Pilbara Minerals – a company where profits fell -90% this week – underscores the fondness many traders retain for lithium stocks.
But, at the risk of being accused of “downramping” – the fundamentals just aren’t there.
SYA last traded at 2cps.