Q2 Metals says a first economic study supports a 28-year open-pit operation in Eeyou Istchee James Bay. The company still faces resource conversion, testing, assessment and financing work

Thunder Bay – Mining News Service – Q2 Metals Corp. has outlined a two-stage, $2.93-billion development concept for its Cisco lithium project in northern Quebec, pairing a large projected production profile with some of the highest uncertainty allowed in a Canadian economic study.

The preliminary economic assessment, released Tuesday, estimates the proposed open-pit mine could produce an average of 1.7 million tonnes of 5.5-per-cent lithium oxide spodumene concentrate each year over 28 years. The processing plant would start at five million tonnes of feed a year and expand to 10 million tonnes by the fifth year.

Q2 reported an after-tax net present value of $13.49 billion at an eight-per-cent discount rate, an after-tax internal rate of return of 38.7 per cent and a three-year payback after production begins. Those figures are company study projections, not a valuation established by an operating mine.

A preliminary case, not a reserve

The study is based entirely on inferred mineral resources. That is the lowest-confidence resource category used in public mine disclosure, and it cannot be converted directly into a mineral reserve. The company states there is no certainty that the study results will be realized.

The estimate uses a long-term price of US$1,900 a tonne for six-per-cent lithium oxide concentrate delivered to China. Adjusted for grade, freight and handling, the study assumes US$1,647 a tonne for 5.5-per-cent concentrate at a Quebec port. A 30-per-cent drop in the assumed selling price would reduce the projected after-tax value to $7.69 billion, according to the company’s sensitivity table.

The cost estimate is an early AACE Class 5 estimate with a stated accuracy range of minus 30 per cent to plus 50 per cent. Q2 also said its full processing flowsheet has not yet been demonstrated in an integrated test program and that more work is needed to understand how ore from different parts of the deposit will behave.

Assessment and Cree engagement ahead

Cisco is on Category III lands in Eeyou Istchee James Bay, within the traditional territory of the Cree Nations of Nemaska and Waswanipi. Q2 says engagement has been underway since 2024 and initial community information sessions were held in 2026.

The project would require Quebec’s environmental and social review under the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement. At the proposed scale, it would also fall under federal impact-assessment provisions for new metal mines and mills. Baseline environmental field work began in 2026 and remains preliminary.

Q2 plans more drilling to expand and upgrade the resource, additional metallurgical and geotechnical work, and submission of preliminary project information to start the provincial review. A federal project description would follow. The company has not announced a construction decision, a production date or committed project financing.

For Northern Ontario, Cisco would add another large James Bay-region project competing for technical staff, contractors, camp services and transport capacity. It could also expand the Canadian lithium supply chain, but its scale and timing remain conceptual until the resource, engineering and approvals advance.