Intra Energy Corporation (ASX: IEC) is an exploration company focused on Western Australian battery metals and new energy projects.
This is a 180-degree turnaround from the company’s previous direction when it was known as Atomic Resources, with interests in uranium and coal in Tanzania.
The company shifted its gaze in 2021 while welcoming Ben Dunn to its Board, who would eventually take on the role of Managing Director in 2022.
‘We sold the Tanzanian assets, and the Board was determined to move back home to concentrate on battery and new energy materials,’ Dunn told Future Mining.
‘We acquired the Yalgarra nickel-copper-PGE project near Kalbarri in Western Australia and, not much later, the Llama lithium project in the James Bay region of Quebec, Canada.’
Unfortunately, Intra Energy arrived in James Bay at the same time as the recent wildfires that halted not only its exploration ambitions, but also those of other companies in the region.
‘We maintain great hopes and expectations for our Llama project, and we expect to be on the ground there later in the year, completing the work we had prepared for last year to define drill targets for drilling early 2025,’ Dunn explains.
Realising that its reliance on the one lithium project in Canada was limiting, Intra Energy acquired an 80 per cent interest in the Maggie Hays Hill lithium project in the Lake Johnston region of Western Australia.
‘This doesn’t mean we have lost faith in Canada,’ Dunn stresses. ‘We believe excellent long-term value remains for our shareholders at Llama. In the immediate future, we can work in Australia all year round, whereas Canada is seasonal due to the colder climate.’
Early work undertaken at Maggie Hays Hill quickly added to the project’s lithium potential by producing multiple high-grade gold results from a mapping and rock sampling program.
Lithium, as we have come to know, is a commodity that enjoys the spotlight, and it came to the fore at Maggie Hays Hill soon after the gold hits with rock chip sampling, yielding outstanding and compelling lithium, tantalum, niobium, caesium and tin assays over what the company considers as the most prospective section of outcropping pegmatites at the project.
‘Two distinct segments have emerged within the licence that have piqued our interest,’ Dunn says.
‘There is a series of pegmatites in some 2.5 kilometres of strike up to 500 metres wide that we have interpreted as being fertile for lithium.’
Intra Energy has had a program of work approved, taking it closer to drilling at Maggie Hays Hill.
The company is working closely with the Ngadju Native Aboriginal Title Corporation to expedite the necessary heritage clearance to allow drilling to commence, which it anticipates will be happening later this year.
