The playbook — lithium · November 4, 2026
Brunswick's 302-metre spodumene hole comes back at 1.73% Li₂O
The number everyone waited for landed: 1.73% Li2O over 302 metres, with a 142-metre core near 2%. Two holes, still only two.
The grade landed. Brunswick Exploration’s hole AN-26-17 at its Anatacau Main lithium project in Quebec’s James Bay region returned 1.73% Li2O over 302.05 metres — lithium oxide, the number that decides whether spodumene rock is worth anything — including a 142-metre stretch at 1.97%, close to 2%. When we last covered Brunswick, this was a 302-metre length of spodumene estimated by eye at about 30% mineral, with no lab number attached. The lab has now reported, and the width held its grade.
For hard-rock lithium, grade multiplied by width is the whole game, and this is a big product: 302.05 metres at 1.73% works out to roughly 522 percent-metres of Li2O, with that 142-metre core at 1.97% worth about 280 on its own. The company discloses true width — the real thickness, not just the length the drill cut — at about 80% of the interval, so the genuine zone is still around 242 metres thick. This is not a geometry trick. AN-26-17 sits about 100 metres down-plunge from AN-26-15, which earlier returned 202 metres at 1.31%, and it does so between roughly 232 and 471 metres below surface; grade and width both improve going deeper across the two holes — early but real continuity. The stock has already moved on it: BRW.V rose 67.9% over three months while the lithium benchmark LIT fell 13.9% and base-metals peers fell 15.7% — an 84-point spread that is company-specific, not a sector tide. CEO Killian Charles built the company off corporate-development roles at Integra Gold and Osisko Metals; his personal stake is about 0.15%, and the February 2026 annual filing carried a going-concern note from the auditor.
Now the limits. This dyke is defined by two holes — AN-26-15 and AN-26-17 — so strike length is not quantified, and the “open in all directions” framing is not supported by lateral drilling. The interval carries about 3% host-rock xenoliths, stray chunks that modestly dilute the grade. No cut-off grade is stated. Assays from AN-26-14 and AN-26-16, drilled outside the dyke, and the balance of AN-26-17 are still pending. The company’s claim of being “amongst the best lithium intercepts on a grade-meter basis since 2015” is its own; no peer data is provided to check it. From our last entry, the Mirage assays flagged for “coming weeks” and the drilling to confirm the dip change at depth are still open. What to watch, timing not stated: those pending assays and the restart of a larger Anatacau campaign.