Brinsden becomes Patriot CEO, moves to Canada

Patriot Battery Metals chairman Ken Brinsden has been named chief executive and moved to Canada to develop the miner's lithium asset, drawing on his track record with Pilbara Minerals.

The lithium linchpin has taken on the top role from Blair Way, who will move to the position of chief operating officer, and has this week relocated from Perth to Quebec.

It comes after Mr Brinsden stepped down as chief executive at Pilbara Minerals in mid-2022 after leading the explorer-turned-lithium-producer since 2015. He was succeeded by Dale Henderson.

He joined Patriot as non-executive chair that same year. 

Mr Brinsden’s chairman position will be filled by Pierre Boivin, a Canadian businessman based in Quebec, home of Patriot’s flagship Corvette lithium exploration project.

In its ASX statement, Patriot said the board moves, which came into effect on Wednesday, were intended to increase the miner’s senior leadership presence within Quebec as it developed the project.

Located in the James Bay region, Patriot is in the process of actioning large drill campaigns as it prepares to provide an updated mineral resource estimate to the market in the third quarter of 2024.

“Given its location and the scale that has emerged at Corvette, it is clearly one of, if not the best lithium raw materials development project globally,” Mr Brinsden said in the ASX statement.

“Since joining Patriot in August 2022, Corvette’s importance to the region has only grown and it now deserves more attention at the local level.

“Hence my commitment to move to Quebec, build-out the leadership team and engage deeply with key stakeholders that will contribute to the project’s success.

Mr Way said the time was right to build-out capacity in Quebec.

“We are lucky to have someone of Ken’s calibre and experience in the lithium industry leading the charge, given that he has done the job before at Pilbara Minerals, taking the company from the development phase to one of the world’s biggest lithium producers,” he said.

“I want to see the company grow from strength to strength and I have no doubt that under the leadership of Pierre and Ken, being based in Quebec and continuity through my role as COO, we have the right recipe.”

Further, Mr Brinsden said he wanted to thank Blair for his contribution to the company so far, through consolidating the land package, raising capital and facilitating investment from Albemarle.