First Phosphate Corp. (CSE:PHOS, OTCQX:FRSPF, FRA:KD0, OTC:FPHOY) earlier this week reported a substantially updated mineral resource estimate for its Bégin-Lamarche phosphate project in Quebec, with indicated resources increasing by 378% following extensive drilling and metallurgical work.

CEO John Passalacqua told Proactive that the company had now completed more than 65,000 metres of drilling across the property, including a 40,000m second drill campaign completed earlier this year. He said the work had successfully upgraded inferred resources while also identifying additional mineral extensions across the deposit.

Passalacqua stated that the company had expanded the project from three zones to four distinct mineralized areas, now identified as the Mountain Zone, Northern Zone, Central Zone and Southern Zone. He said the deposit demonstrates strong continuity and remains open at depth, providing potential for additional future growth.

The company also highlighted positive metallurgical results supporting downstream battery material processing. Passalacqua noted that testing had achieved a 40.4% P2O5 concentrate grade, which he described as being among the purest globally.

He added that the company had achieved a phosphate-to-purified phosphoric acid conversion rate of approximately 91.1%, supporting the project’s potential suitability for lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery applications.

According to Passalacqua, the project could become one of only a limited number of igneous phosphate operations globally capable of supplying high-purity phosphoric acid to the battery industry.

He said the strategic value of the project is increasing amid growing North American demand tied to electric vehicles, energy storage systems and AI-driven infrastructure expansion.

Looking ahead, Passalacqua said First Phosphate plans to internally review the updated data before potentially advancing to a feasibility study targeted for completion by December 2026.

Beyond that stage, the company would focus on permitting and project financing with the objective of achieving commercial production by 2029.

Proactive: All right. Welcome back inside our Proactive newsroom. Joining me now is John Passalacqua, CEO of First Phosphate. John, good to see you again. How are you?

John Passalacqua: Yeah great. Good to see you.

The company has big news today that you've updated your mineral resource at Bégin-Lamarche. Really strong numbers here, John. A big expansion for the project.

Yeah. Look, we're very happy with the results and all the work that's been done in the field. We've been able to increase indicated reserves by 378%. That's an extreme accomplishment. Not only have we been able to upgrade existing inferred resources, but we've also been able to find more and more extensions, and we even remain open at depth.

Talk to me a bit about the work that's gone into this. I know this was built over two drill programs, right?

Yes. It's been built over two drill programs. Our second drill program finished in March of this year. It was a 40,000m campaign. In total, we've drilled over 65,000m at the property. Now the drilling has pretty much been finalized for this stage of operations. We've been able to successfully upgrade, quantify and qualify all of our mineral resources at the property. We're quite happy. This now allows us to move to the next stages of development here.

Talk to us a bit about the characteristics of Bégin-Lamarche. It's broken up into four different areas that you've been working on.

Yeah, it's really great. We were working off three zones, but now with the increased mineralization and the way it's been qualified, we've moved to four zones. We have the Mountain Zone, the Northern Zone, the new Central Zone and the Southern Zone. Those are four distinct areas of the deposit corresponding to four different faults. Each has its own characteristics, but there is really large homogeneity across those zones and across the deposit. It's almost like one big massive blob of phosphate on surface that can be drilled out fairly easily.

In the report, you also talk about the metallurgical work and recovery rates. Those are very strong for the project moving forward.

Yeah. The really important thing is that the recovery rates are now pretty much solidified. We're able to get to an extremely high-purity concentrate. This concentrate is around one of the highest purities ever put together out there, and that's because of the purity of the rock. We arrive at a 40.4% P2O5 reading. That's incredible. It's almost pure apatite.

We've also been able to qualify the material to move it through the various steps into making purified phosphoric acid for the LFP battery industry. We get to a conversion ratio of about 91.1%, meaning that when you start with the rock, about 91.1% gets converted into purified phosphoric acid. Those are extremely generous rates and allow for the preparation of purified phosphoric acid for the LFP battery industry.

We've hit it on all levels — continuity, extensions on the resource, surface economics and downstream conversion capability. So we're extremely happy as a company.

Next steps. What happens now?

The next steps are for all of this to be reviewed internally. The next stage of mining development would be moving into a feasibility study. If we proceed, we'd like to complete that by December 2026. We'll be sitting down with the board and reviewing all the data.

After that, it would move into permitting and building the capital stack, which we've already started to do, with the goal of having a mine operational by 2029.

Obviously with a rise of 378%, this is a large project. Where does this put the project on a global scale?

In terms of North America, it could very well be the first igneous phosphate mine to come to life. There's only one other exporter of igneous phosphate in the world right now, and that's in Russia. We'd be one of only a handful of projects globally capable of providing this high-grade purified phosphoric acid.

It would be exceptional for North America because it is so rare and because of the growing need for LFP batteries. The purity level of 40.4% is amongst the purest, if not the purest, in the world. It's a great deposit and provides a strong sense of national security for North America by helping supply purified phosphoric acid needed for AI growth, energy storage and electric vehicle applications.

Well, it's quite a rise — 378%. Congratulations on that John. Good to see you again and we'll talk soon.

All right. Thank you. Really appreciate it.

Quotes have been lightly edited for style and clarity