It said its project now covered all available land in the prospective Montcalm Gabbro complex, bar a single 20ha unit prohibited for acquisition by the government, and mining leases controlled by Glencore that cover the former Montcalm mine.

Montcalm is said to have produced 3.9 million tonnes grading 1.25% nickel, 0.67% copper and 0.051% cobalt, for more than 4 million pounds of cobalt.

Pancon was able to successfully acquire 6,980ha in the complex, dubbed the Gambler property, after Ontario's new online staking system was launched on April 10.

Gambler adds to the company's option, acquired in January, to earn 100% of the Montcalm and Nova properties, which grew in size by several hundred hectares due to recent government changes to legacy claim cell boundaries as part of the new online system.

In January, Pancon said Montcalm West's potential for cobalt or "blue gold" was a key aspect in the timely acquisition to expand its commodity focus.

Pancon also owns the Jefferson gold project in South Carolina, US, and retains a 1% royalty on future production from its former Australian rare earth and uranium joint venture.

"Our Montcalm West battery metals project is now of camp-sized proportion, and thanks to our recent oversubscribed financing, we are about to launch our exploration program at the expanded project," president and CEO Layton Croft said.

The company raised C$1.97 million (US$1.56 million) in a non-brokered private placement earlier this month, originally set to raise C$1.5 million (US$1.2 million), at 6c per flow-through share and 5c per unit.

It is planning airborne survey to prioritise targets at the project which has seen little modern exploration.

Pancon shares have ranged between C2c-8c over the past year and closed unchanged yesterday at 5c.