Foremost Lithium (NASDAQ: $FMST): Pioneering the Future of Lithium in America's EV Revolution
Foremost Lithium (NASDAQ: FMST) (CSE: FAT) is a hard-rock lithium exploration company focused on empowering the North American clean energy economy. Foremost's strategically located lithium properties extend over 43,000 acres in Snow Lake, Manitoba, and hosts a property in a known active lithium camp situated on over 11,400 acres in Quebec called Lac Simard South.
Transcript
00:00 Here at Benzinga, if you've seen any of our content, you know we love getting your questions
00:05 answered from executives from publicly traded company.
00:08 And today we've got a great interview with Jason Bernard, who is the CEO and president
00:12 of Foremost Lithium.
00:13 Ticker on NASDAQ is FMST and ticker on the Canadian Stock Exchange is FAT.
00:18 Jason, thank you so much for joining us.
00:21 Thank you for having me.
00:22 Absolutely.
00:23 Now there's a lot to get to, but if you could explain it to me like I'm five, what is it
00:26 that your company does?
00:28 We are a hard rock lithium company and our goal is the extraction of lithium oxide ore
00:35 for the production of lithium hydroxide to go into the production of electric vehicles.
00:41 Also we have five distinct lithium projects in Snow Lake Manitoba, which is a mining friendly
00:49 area that's been mining and exploring for almost 100 years.
00:54 That encompasses 43,000 acres and 40 pegmatites up and down known lithium structures.
01:04 Well that's exciting stuff, but I know you've got something else that you're about to share
01:07 with us and it's about the four core lithium lane projects that you own.
01:11 What exactly does that mean for the viewers at home?
01:14 Lithium lane projects are four projects that have known lithium on them.
01:21 And more specifically, in 2017 we made our first lithium discovery that was on the Zorro
01:28 property.
01:29 A very good year for the stock.
01:31 The stock went to $45.
01:33 We subsequently drilled off 10,000 meters and we have our resource of a million tons
01:39 of over 1%.
01:42 Now if you were to produce lithium batteries for cars, that would produce over 440,000
01:51 lithium batteries for Tesla models.
01:54 Now I'm glad you brought up the EV and the battery space because I'm curious how important
01:57 the location of these projects is in relation to the EV battery market in the US itself.
02:04 Our location is a key advantage for the company and that's because right central to the north
02:13 we're at the tip of the Napa superhighway.
02:15 So down both east and west, south of us are all the electric vehicle manufacturers and
02:20 all the electric battery manufacturers that will be requiring feedstock of lithium hydroxide
02:26 to produce their batteries.
02:29 If I was to take that a little further, I would say we also have an advantage in location
02:34 because we are within close proximity to one of the only hard rock lithium concentrate
02:41 producers in North America.
02:43 There's only two.
02:45 One is near us and it's called the Tango Mine.
02:47 And this allows us to look at a direct shipping ore strategy where we have a near term revenue
02:54 strategy where most companies don't.
02:57 The main thing that I want to ask you here Jason is how is Foremost Lithium focused on
03:01 staying in the game for the long term in this space?
03:06 Foremost Lithium will stay in the game because we've done the work.
03:11 We have a metallurgy report that's come out that shows that our lithium is amenable to
03:19 6% battery grade.
03:21 That allows us to go and market our lithium while it's in the ground.
03:24 What does this mean?
03:25 Well, whether it's a royalty, lithium royalty agreements, whether it's optic agreements,
03:32 transactions will happen where companies, EV manufacturers and battery manufacturers
03:37 will come and inject capital, non-dilutive capital into your company for delivery of
03:42 product down the road.
03:44 And this is very good for Canadian battery metals companies.
03:48 Also we will sustain ourselves long term by embarking on our direct shipping ore strategy.
03:55 So this is a revenue stream that Foremost Lithium can engage in much sooner than other
04:03 companies that have to build their own mines.
04:05 So we have a mine in the area.
04:07 We can ship oxide ore to that mine and collect revenue.
04:11 Other companies don't have the capability of doing this.
04:15 There's only two producing mines in all of North America and one is in our proximity.
04:20 So this allows us to pay for things as we go with the direct ship ore strategy.
04:27 And also the work we've done that makes our lithium viable in the ground will allow other
04:33 companies to come in and buy it now for delivery down the road.
04:38 With the growth that you mentioned, how critical is it for the U.S. to secure like a North
04:42 America supply chain?
04:44 You know, do you think you'll be able to catch up to China here shortly?
04:47 I think it will take a long time.
04:50 There is to receive tax credits and to receive green credits from the Inflation Reduction
04:58 Act.
04:59 It is going to take a lot of investment.
05:01 So it's going to take some time, but the growth trajectory will be much quicker with
05:07 something like the Inflation Reduction Act.
05:10 By quicker I mean bringing that supply chain into North America.
05:15 It's doable.
05:16 Can we meet the goals with this high, high demand for lithium?
05:21 That's another question, but definitely supercharged growth in the industry.
05:27 Well, Jason, I appreciate your time today.
05:29 We've got a chance to kind of take a sneak peek at what's to come, but I wanted to give
05:32 the floor to you if there's anything you wanted to talk to our viewers about.
05:35 I would like to point out that FMST is our symbol.
05:39 We're the new kids on the block on the NASDAQ, and I'm happy to be marketing Foremost Lithium
05:48 on the NASDAQ as there's not many places to go and purchase investments into the lithium.
05:55 So I would point out our new listing on the NASDAQ, and I would point out that our company
06:04 is going to go and drill off more reserves this upcoming winter on our current reserve
06:10 on the Zorro project.
06:12 And then we will also try to find more discoveries on Peg North, Grass River, and Gene Lake,
06:18 where we've got many de-risk targets to go drill on.
06:21 So lots of growth and somewhere you can buy on the NASDAQ now.
06:26 Thank you so much, Jason, again for your time and thank you for watching at home.
06:29 For all things finance, visit Benzinga.com.
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