This is a story that’s been 50 years in the making.
A small and largely unknown company called ACME Lithium issued a news release this week to say it had acquired claims in the far northeast corner of Saskatchewan because it has an interest in some unique rocks that were found there.
They are pegmatites, holding out the prospect of potentially yielding economic grades of lithium.
The pursuit of critical minerals needed to make batteries and in the micro-chip world has sparked a wave of mining activity as the West moves away from its reliance on China as the major player in the field.
Places like Saskatchewan are moving to centre stage largely because they have been under-explored and under-developed — in part because of politics. Back in the 70s, the NDP government introduced legislation that gave the government the power to back-into mining developments at their discretion, a move that discouraged investment and exploration.
Today, Saskatchewan is the most welcoming mining jurisdiction in the world and the results of that political posture are becoming evident.
