Chris Ellison-backed Patriot Battery Metals taps market for further drilling opportunities
The Chris Ellison-backed Patriot Battery Metals is understood to be raising $45m to fund further drilling.
The funds are being raised at 85c a share after the stock was halted at 99.5c with its market value at $665.5m.
A Canadian broker was crossing shareholders at the weekend.
It comes after Patriot announced last week that it would end its agreement with Albemarle to enable Patriot to explore a broader range of strategic partnerships within the downstream lithium sector.
“As the scale and quality of Patriot’s Corvette Project has become increasingly evident, the company has received significant interest from participants in the lithium industry, given the potential for Corvette to be a large and high-quality raw material supplier for the future of lithium-ion battery supply chains excluding China.”
Patriot, run by the former Pilbara Minerals boss Ken Brinsden, who moved from the position of chairman to chief executive in January, describes itself as a pivotal supplier of high-quality raw materials for lithium-ion batteries outside of China.
There has been speculation in the market that the billionaire Mineral Resources boss Chris Ellison is among its shareholders, while Albemarle has owned just under 5 per cent.
There has also been talk in the market that the Australian and Canadian listed battery minerals explorer could be a takeover target for the cashed up lithium group Pilbara Minerals.
Last year, Patriot Battery Metals was understood to have tapped Macquarie Capital.
Among parties that are believed to have shown interest in Patriot are Mineral Resources, as well as Pilbara Minerals and Wesfarmers.
Rio Tinto has also taken a look, sources have said.
Patriot has the Corvette lithium project in Canada’s James Bay region.
Patriot, a hard rock lithium exploration company, is focused on advancing its Corvette Property in Qubec, which ranks as one of the top 10 largest lithium pegmatite resources in the world ahead of the increasing trend towards electric vehicles.
Its share price has halved in the past year in line with the falling lithium price.
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