Shaakichiuwaanaan Project Feasibility Study & The Closed-Loop Value-Addition Bottlenecks

Prepared for: Technical & Geometallurgical Risk Assessment

Author: Nicholas Vafeas, Founder & Director

Date: September 2026

Executive Summary

The feasibility study for the Shaakichiuwaanaan Project presents a fundamentally sound baseline infrastructure, energy transmission network, and regional logistical layout. Connecting to Hydro-Québec's LG-4 system via a new fifty-five-kilometre 120-kilovolt transmission line and establishing an 834-kilometre concentrate haulage route to the Matagami transshipment centre provide solid foundations for project development.

However, an evaluation of the project's internal technical frameworks through a strict geological lens reveals vulnerabilities. The primary technical liability stems from an operational disconnect between documented mineralogical variations and the mathematical models used to predict resource volume, geotechnical stability, mill throughput, and environmental drainage.

Core Geological Vulnerability Thesis:

Feasibility frameworks treat the CV5 pegmatite as a homogeneous body, relying on global averages and single-variable equations. In reality, the deposit shows distinct zones of hydrothermal alteration where late-stage metasomatic fluids have degraded coarse spodumene into fine clays, non-recoverable micas, and complex intergrowths. Because these mineralogical alterations and their associated trace-element footprints (such as arsenic and antimony) are not tracked as three-dimensional variables in the resource block model, the current mine plan faces a compounding series of engineering, metallurgical, and environmental risks.

Introduction & Commercial Architecture

This narrative risk assessment provides an independent evaluation of the Feasibility Study (NI 43-101 Technical Report) for the Shaakichiuwaanaan Project (formerly the Corvette Project), located in the Eeyou Istchee James Bay region of Québec, Canada[cite: 4]. The subject of this evaluation is the proposed development of the CV5 Spodumene Pegmatite deposit (100% owned by PMET Resources Inc.) which outlines a combined open-pit and underground mining operation targeting a 5.0 million tonne per annum (Mtpa) throughput to produce a >5.5% Li2O spodumene concentrate via a Dense Media Separation (DMS)-only process plant[cite: 4].

Geological Confidence & Metasomatic Hazards

A reliable resource model should map, in three dimensions, the key geological features that control how rock behaves during mining and processing[cite: 4]. Geologists found that while coarse spodumene is the main lithium-bearing mineral, other lithium minerals vary considerably across the deposit[cite: 4]. Lepidolite concentrations spike locally to 4.3% against a 1.0% average, and accessory micas range up to 17.1% (averaging 6.5%)[cite: 4]. Late-stage metasomatic fluid pathways transported volatile elements like arsenic and antimony, causing chemical breakdown of coarse spodumene into soft matrices of smectite clays, cookeite, and fine micas[cite: 4].

Geotechnical, Hydrogeological & Mining Engineering Liabilities

Open-pit slope guidelines and underground stope configurations (planning heights up to 36 metres and transverse widths up to 25 metres) rely on generalized regional rock mass classifications[cite: 4]. Developing an open pit and underground mine beneath Lake 001 introduces clear water-management risks[cite: 4]. The current dewatering model assumes a uniform fractured medium, ignoring the reality that late-stage metasomatic channels could act as high-permeability water conduits directly connected to the lakebed regolith[cite: 4].

Process Flowsheet Vulnerability

Plant-wide lithium recovery is calculated using a global, single-variable equation[cite: 4]:

Mill Recovery = [ 75 × (1 - e^{-1.995 × Li₂O Feed Grade}) ] / 100

This mathematical formula treats all lithium as open, easily recoverable coarse spodumene, discounting non-recoverable lithium in micas/lepidolite and particle-size penalties[cite: 4]. Material finer than 0.65 mm bypasses the DMS circuit entirely, driving severe lithium tailings losses[cite: 4].

[Figure 1: Hydrothermal Fluid Channels → Spodumene Breakdown → Comminution Fines → Tailings Bypass Circuit][cite: 4]

Figure 1. Conceptual pathway showing how hydrothermal alteration reduces DMS recovery by converting coarse spodumene into fines (<0.65 mm) and clay-rich material[cite: 4].

Geochemical Waste Liabilities & Permitting Compliance

Contact water interacting with Stockpile 002 will undergo severe leaching, generating arsenic concentrations that breach federal Metal and Diamond Mining Effluent Regulations and provincial D019 compliance criteria by up to two orders of magnitude[cite: 4]. The report sets an environmental segregation protocol requiring any waste rock exhibiting an arsenic concentration above 30 parts per million (ppm) to be isolated inside a lined area[cite: 4].

Table 1. Geological audit matrix comparing project assumptions with audited reality[cite: 4].
Operational Framework	Feasibility Design Assumption	Audited Geological Reality	Projected Operational & Financial Liability
Geological Resource Model	Homogeneous mineralogy driven strictly by total Li2O grade[cite: 4].	Unmodelled micas (up to 17.1%), lepidolite (4.3%), and clays[cite: 4].	Spatial blindness to spodumene breakdown zones; localized volume inflation[cite: 4].
Mill Circuit Configuration	Low-complexity DMS-only flowsheet (9.5 mm to 0.65 mm)[cite: 4].	Altered ore crumbles easily into fine fragments smaller than 0.65 mm[cite: 4].	Heavy lithium losses directly to tailings bypass; ferrosilicon medium contamination[cite: 4].

Remediation Recommendations

Update the 3D resource block model with geostatistical interpolation of micas, lepidolite, and clay alteration[cite: 4].
Re-evaluate geotechnical and hydrogeological models with block-by-block geomechanical rock quality scores[cite: 4].
Replace global 1D recovery equations with multi-variable mineralogical recovery functions[cite: 4].

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