Canadian junior Musk Metals (CNSX: MUSK: US-OTC: GPMNF) is buying the Elon lithium project in Quebec, which would add the coveted battery metal to its gold-focused portfolio.
"Fuelled by the recent shift to electric vehicles, demand for battery metals and materials has skyrocketed," CEO Nader Vatanchi stated in the announcement.
While most people think of Elon Musk, the founder and CEO of electric car maker Tesla, when they see the words "Musk" and "Elon" together, the billionaire is not associated with the company or the project.
He has, however, expressed his views on the lithium market extensively via Twitter. Stocks of some lithium producers got hammered in November after Musk said there were massive amounts of lithium on earth. "There really is enough lithium in Nevada alone to electrify the entire U.S. fleet," he said on November 23.
Prices for the battery metal have soared in just the last few days. Benchmark Mineral Intelligence's battery-grade lithium carbonate midpoint price (EXW China, ???99.0% Li2CO3) for mid-March shows the raw material up 88% just since the start of the year to over US$12,600 a tonne, the highest level since March 2019.
Musk Metals, known until early March as Gold Plus Mining, described the Elon project as "strategically located" about 600 metres northeast of the former Mine Quebec Lithium, which operated between 1955-1965.
It noted it planned to buy the asset by acquiring all the shares of Tonto Investments for 3 million common shares.
The Vancouver-based junior is planning a two-phase exploration work program that includes data compilation, geological mapping, trenching and sampling in phase one. Diamond drilling and metallurgical testing will be conducted in phase two, it said.
The company has also acquired claims contiguous to Benchmark Metals' Lawyers project in British Columbia and the Pluto properties in Quebec.