Winsome Resources is working to find a strategic partner for its Adina lithium project in the James Bay region of Quebec “in the next six months”, so that it can push ahead with further studies and, eventually, construction.
Adina, a hard rock spodumene lithium deposit first discovered in 2016, holds an estimated resource of 78 million tonnes (mt) at 1.12% lithium oxide. According to a scoping study released by Winsome last September, Adina has a forecast average production of more than 256,000 tonnes per annum of spodumene concentrate over the 21-year life of mine.
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Winsome is hoping to acquire and repurpose the existing infrastructure at the Renard diamond mine to process ore from Adina. It secured an option in April 2024 to acquire Renard, located 60km south of the proposed lithium project.
“All the infrastructure is there: an airport, a power plant, accommodation – and most importantly the lithium processing plant. It can be converted easily and saves us around $500m on the capital cost of the full project,” Chris Evans, managing director of Winsome Resources, told Mining Technology during an interview at PDAC 2025 earlier in March.
The next step for Winsome Resources, he says, is to secure a strategic partner that can support the next phases of the Adina project development.
“Since we published our initial studies last year… we have been looking for a strategic partner,” explains Evans.
“We want a strategic partner on site to help us develop our studies and then ultimately move into final investment decision and construction.”
Winsome has been running the process for “about four months” and expects to bring a partner on “in the next six months” to exercise the option on the Renard mine, according to Evans.
Winsome, an Australian company which, according to its website, has an “established portfolio of exploration lithium projects in the James Bay Region of Quebec Province”, has until 31 May 2025 to act, otherwise exclusivity rights will be replaced with a right of first refusal over any alternative transaction.
Evans also says the company is working on its project feasibility study, which is expected to be completed around the middle of next year.
Winsome also recently submitted the preliminary information statement for the Adina project to the Ministry of Environment, Fight Against Climate Change, Wildlife and Parks in Quebec, launching the start of the regulatory review process.
Winsome looks to caesium
Alongside its flagship Adina project, Winsome has three other projects in Quebec: Cancet, Sirmac-Clapier and Tilly.
“At a time when lithium pricing is down, we now find ourselves with several interests in this new commodity, caesium,” Evans tells Mining Technology.
In February, Winsome reported that analysis of outcrop samples from its Sirmac-Clapier project, originally acquired for its lithium potential, “confirmed the presence and tenor of very high-grade caesium mineralisation”.
Evans says the project “shows great promise” for caesium and will be the focus of further exploration efforts later this year.
Winsome also owns a 20% shareholding in Power Metals Corporation, acquired from China’s Sinomine in 2022. Power Metals is developing the Case Lake project in north-east Ontario, for which Winsome also holds all the offtake rights for caesium, lithium and tantalum.
According to Evans, within the next 12–18 months Case Lake has the potential to become the only operating caesium mine in the world.
Pegmatite mines previously operated in Canada, Western Australia and Zimbabwe have ceased production, so caesium stockpiles are thought to be in “slow decline”.
The US Geological Survey states that consumption, import and export data for caesium have not been available since the late 1980s. However, it estimates that the primary global caesium producers in 2024 were Canada, China, Germany and Russia – and notes that the US was completely reliant on imports for its caesium needs in 2024.
Recognising the caesium market as “opaque”, Evans points out that projects can be brought online quickly if needed.
“The mining is very different to lithium in that in a short amount of time you can mine an entire ‘pod’ of caesium that can represent several years of world supply,” says Evans.
“There is a lot of money to be made in a short time with caesium and we are getting ourselves up to speed very quickly,” concludes Evans.
