WA has named on top of followed by Saskatchewan (second) and Nevada (third) with Zimbabwe last.

“The Fraser Institute’s mining survey is the most comprehensive report on government policies that either attract or discourage mining investors, and Western Australia ranks highest of anywhere in the world,” said Elmira Aliakbari, director of the Fraser Institute’s Centre for Natural Resource Studies and co-author of the report.

This year’s report ranks 84 jurisdictions around the world based on their geologic attractiveness (minerals and metals) and government policies that encourage or deter exploration and investment.

Rounding out the top 10 jurisdictions are Alaska (fourth), Arizona (fifth), Quebec (sixth), Idaho (seventh), Morocco (eighth), Yukon (ninth), and South Australia (10th).

This year’s least-attractive jurisdictions include Zimbabwe and four jurisdictions in Latin America (including Argentina and the Caribbean).

“A sound regulatory regime coupled with competitive taxes make a jurisdiction attractive to investors,” said Jairo Yunis, Fraser Institute policy analyst and report co- author.

The post Western Australia tops global mining survey rankings appeared first on The Australian Mining Review.

Australia’s Minister for Resources and Water, Keith Pitt, has announced $5.8 million in funding to support a three-year Australia-India Critical Minerals Investment Partnership.

“Australia and India are natural partners sharing mutual strategic and economic priorities and this Partnership will support further Indian investment in Australian critical minerals projects,” Minister Pitt said.

“It is the first of its kind and represents a step-change in how countries can work together to support key industries and pursue growth opportunities.

“Our combined capabilities will take on the challenge of resourcing the emerging technologies used in sectors such as defence, aerospace, automotive, renewable energy, telecommunications and agritech.

“India is forecast to become the world’s most populous country within two years. Its fast-growing economy will create more trade and investment opportunities, so it is important Australia continues to build close ties with India,” Minister Pitt said.

Minister Pitt said Australia will work closely with India to identify potential critical minerals investment opportunities, including technical and due diligence exercises which can assist development of a business case for prospective Indian investment in Australia.

“With our vast quantities of development-ready critical minerals projects and reputation as a reliable trading partner, Australia is a logical choice as India looks to secure its supply chains,” Minister Pitt said.

“The partnership will encourage strong, strategic supply chain partnerships, including through technical studies that will support investment in Australian critical minerals projects.”

Australia’s resources of critical minerals like antimony, cobalt, lithium, manganese ore, niobium, tungsten and vanadium, rank in the top 5 globally.

Australia is also the world’s top producer of lithium, rutile and the second largest producer of zircon and rare earth elements.

The global race to further introduce Electric Vehicles into the market has led to a surge in interest in Australia’s rich battery metal supplies of lithium, nickel, cobalt, copper and manganese.

The post Federal Government Supports Indian Investment In Australian Critical Minerals Sector appeared first on The Australian Mining Review.

The company told the ASX, that in light of the current military action in Ukraine, it will immediately suspend shipments of gold concentrate from its Wiluna Mining Centre to Russia.

“During this period, Wiluna has arrangements in place to sell and ship all its concentrate to alternative destinations,” the company stated.

“We will continue to monitor the situation in Ukraine and any sanctions imposed on the Russian Federation before making further decisions on the destination of its product.

In late February, WMC celebrated the departure of its first shipment of gold in concentrate from the Port of Fremantle bound for offtake partner Polymetal International plc.

Wiluna’s logistics contractor, Qube Bulk delivered the concentrate from Wiluna’s mine via road and rail to their facility at the port of Fremantle where it was loaded onto the ship.

“WMC can further confirm that the first seven shipments are in the process of being locked in with the second shipment of 20 containers loaded and on its way to Fremantle with an estimated early March departure date. “

The third shipment, which will likely be 50 containers, is also confirmed and will be shipped to Singapore-based off-take partner Trafigura. It is due to depart Fremantle in mid-March.

“This will be the first shipment to Trafigura who, like Polymetal International plc, signed an offtake contract for the first three years of production in a contract announced to the ASX in March 2020.

“To date, 2,690 wet tonnes of gold in concentrate, which is the equivalent to ~5,650/oz of gold, has been produced with the ramp-up to full steady-state commercial in progress.”

The post Wiluna Shuts Down Russian Gold Shipments From Australia appeared first on The Australian Mining Review.

The company’s wholly owned subsidiary Western Rare Earths Corp. has been named a Team Member of Critical Materials Institute (CMI); a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Energy Innovation Hub.

The company’s assets have been identified as having the potential to be some of the largest rare earth deposits in the United States.

The agreement means Western Rare Earths now sits alongside the world’s second-largest metals producer Rio Tinto on the highly esteemed Critical Materials Institute (CMI) Team Members list, with both companies the only rare earths miners in the select group. Other members include leading universities, national laboratories and other private companies.

The Critical Materials Institute (CMI) is a multi-institutional, multi-disciplinary consortium led by the Ames Laboratory. CMI is an Energy Innovation Hub of the U.S. Department of Energy. Its focus is innovation to assure supply chains for materials critical to clean energy technologies with special focus on the Rare Earths supply chain for the United States.

These critical materials are essential for American competitiveness in clean energy, including wind turbines, solar panels, electric vehicles, and energy efficient lighting. The

Department’s “Critical Materials Strategy” reported that supply challenges for five rare earth metals may affect clean energy technology deployment in the coming years.

CMI is a public/private partnership, led by the Ames Laboratory, that brings together the best and brightest research minds from universities, national laboratories, and the private sector. The shared goal is to find innovative technology solutions that will help avoid a supply shortage that would threaten the US clean energy industry as well as security interests.

Strategic objectives for Team Members include opportunities to drive R&D, the option to license technology for deployment, and provide input to CMI research programs. CMI Team Members have research subcontracts from CMI or are providing cost sharing funds.

Requirements include specific research project deliverables within the entity’s areas of expertise, based on a scope of work and a negotiated budget, including cost-share as applicable.

Western Rare Earths’ invitation to become a CMI Team Member is a result of being a cost sharing co-applicant to a recently approved CMI R&D project expected to be announced in early 2022. The project includes other CMI Team Members, in the National Lab and University categories, as the primary researchers and Western Rare Earths providing feedstock, beneficiated Rare Earths mineralised ore, and industry guidance.

Marty Weems, CEO of Western Rare Earths and the President for the US Business Unit of American Rare Earths says that as a member of the Critical Minerals Institute the company will be working with some of the brightest minds in the world leading the innovation efforts to assure the supply chain for materials critical to the United States.

“Marty and the US team have been working diligently with various R&D partners to establish our presence with a number of the rare earth innovation efforts,” American Rare Earths CEO, Chris Gibbs, said.

“It’s our vision to be more than just a mining company but rather a technology leader in this space: vertically integrated and one day producing the rare earth metals that are critical to our future. It’s our strategy to not only focus on developing our rare earth mining projects that have some of the cleanest ore in the world but to work collaboratively with R&D leaders building processing and refining capability, using new, disruptive, green and clean technologies that will provide critical minerals for future generations. Becoming a member of the Critical Minerals Institute is one important step in the pursuit of our vision and the journey that lays ahead.”

The post Australian Rare Earths Specialists Signed Up For Key US Energy Project appeared first on The Australian Mining Review.

The company has entered into a binding agreement to acquire 100% of two mineral leases from Toronto-listed Anfield Energy Inc. (TSX-V: AEC), in a significant expansion of its uranium project areas that join together the existing Jeffrey and Rat’s Nest projects.

The two strategically located mineral leases serve to connect the company’s current ground positions in the area and will more than double the size of GTR’s contiguous land position by conjoining its most prospective projects at Jeffrey and Rats Nest.

The acquisitions expand GTR’s land position to over 5.5 kilometres along the interpreted strike of the mineralised trend and offer significant exploration upside within untested areas under cover.

This news comes on the back of a successful drilling program at the Jeffrey project where the results of the downhole gamma logging returned high in-situ assay values up to 3,535ppm uranium equivalent (eU₃O₈).

In addition, field screening of the drill core with a handheld XRF has yielded results up to 26,388 ppm vanadium.

GTI Resources also announced today that it intends to raise just over $1.8 million via a placement at $0.03 per share and will be launching an underwritten Share Purchase Plan (SPP) to raise a further $978,000 at the same price.

Whilst the company plans the next phase of its uranium exploration in Utah, it looks to be also keeping a close eye on the surging gold price and level of interest in WA gold explorers.

The company plans to allocate some of its new funding toward the near-term drilling of its Niagara (Kookynie) gold project in WA, spurred on by the recent success of its neighbours.

GTR’s Kookynie project is approximately one kilometre from tenements held by Nex Metals (ASX: NME) and being explored in a JV with Metalicity (ASX: MTC).

MTC is currently valued by the market at $40 million on the back of recent exploration success.

Currently capitalised at less than $20 million, it appears the market has not fully priced in GTR’s WA gold project yet, and with upcoming drilling on the horizon, it will be something investors will be keeping a close eye on prior to the next phase of drilling in Utah.

Utah Drilling confirms mineralised trend

The completed uranium exploration drilling has confirmed the projected geometry of the mineralised trend, with the trend remaining open in both directions along strike.

Laboratory assay of the drill core is pending, and those results will be released when available.

The next exploration phase is expected to entail a larger drill program, targeting potential development of a shallow JORC Mineral Resource, and would ultimately inform future production studies.

The shallow nature of the mineralisation supports continued low-cost, rapid exploration advancements.

Harking back to the leases under acquisition, they contain historical underground production workings and are prospective for uranium and vanadium as evidenced from recent sampling conducted during acquisition due diligence which yielded in-field XRF measurements of up to 81,745ppm uranium and 28,375ppm vanadium.

GTR’s existing tenements including drilling areas to the north & XRF sample locations (red dots) at the acquired mineral leases.

Timing is right as uranium soars

These events are timely as the uranium price is hovering in the vicinity of US$33 per pound, a level it hasn’t traded at since early 2016.

Consequently, there should be robust support for a capital raising of approximately $2.8 million announced today, at a price of 3¢ per share.

GTI Resources is in the process of raising just over $1.8 million via a placement, as well as a further $978,000 through a Share Purchase Plan which is underwritten by CPS Capital Group.

Links between Jeffrey mineralisation and lease under acquisition

The recent initial small-scale exploratory drill program at Jeffrey targeted known shallow mineralisation in a near-surface sandstone unit of the lower Salt Wash Member of the Morrison Formation, and explored slightly deeper (to circa 20 metres from surface) sandstone units within the fluvial depositional sequence.

The company has successfully identified uranium mineralisation of economic interest in a second, slightly deeper sandstone unit, thereby substantially increasing the potential of the Jeffrey project to host meaningful uranium and vanadium resources, similar to that historically produced.

The mineralised trend is clearly open to the south, with known mineralisation on the property line between the Jeffrey project claims and ML 53599, one of the leases GTR is in the process of acquiring.

Commenting on this development, executive director Bruce Lane said, “These new properties have helped GTI Resources secure a significantly enhanced ground position by securing the prospective ground between our Jeffrey and Rats Nest claim groups.

‘’The new ground substantially increases the interpreted mineralised strike zone within GTI’s land package and materially enhances the opportunity to define an economic resource in the area.

‘’The mineralised trend which was confirmed during our recent round of drilling at Jeffrey remains open in both directions and in particular to the south which runs into the new leases.

‘’The initial sampling conducted on the new leases shows prospectivity for commercial grade ores and the possibility that exploration and development could be relatively quick and inexpensive.”

Providing management with further confidence is evidence of a second deeper mineralised horizon in the southern area of the Jeffrey group adjacent to the neighbouring property.

The mineralisation in the newly acquired property appears to be consistent with the historically mined mineralisation within the Salt Wash Member across the Colorado Plateau.

GTI is consolidating its understanding of the local mineralised system and planning the next phase of exploration.

This should lead to the group expanding the scope of its drilling activity as quickly as possible to include the newly acquired property.

Due diligence completed

GTR has completed technical due diligence on the two mineral leases including collection of a number of XRF analyses in the field to characterise exposed uranium and vanadium mineralisation.

The XRF data covers in-field analysis on underground exposures on mineralisation within Mineral Lease ML 53599 and Rats Nest Claim #1.

The XRF analyses represent the nature of mineralisation and estimation of grade, but do not represent formal assays and have not been verified by an independent laboratory.

Niagara Gold Project shaping up as nearology play

GTI Resources is also planning further work at its Niagara Gold Project to follow up on anonymous soil sampling results from its exploration licences E 40/342, as reported in May.

The Niagara project is located approximately six kilometres south-west of Kookynie in the central goldfields of Western Australia.

Recent successful exploration work conducted by Metalicity Ltd (ASX: MCT) in joint venture with Nex Metals Exploration Ltd (ASX: NME) on ground about one kilometre to the north of GTR’s Niagara Project (E40/342) has demonstrated the highly promising potential of the Kookynie Belt.

GTR’s project comprises one granted exploration licence, E40/342 and four prospecting licence applications, P40/1506, P40/1515, P40/1516 and P40/1517 which were recently pegged and applied for.

Access to the project is provided via the Goldfields Highway from the town of Menzies and the sealed Kookynie Road which bisects the northern part of exploration licence E40/342 and the southern part of P40/1506.

The project is situated within the central part of the Norseman?Wiluna greenstone belt, and the geology of the area is characterised by large rafts of semi?continuous greenstone stratigraphy.

Numerous historical workings occur within and to the north of the project area with a number of major historical mines located in the immediate vicinity of Kookynie, including the Cosmopolitan Mine which produced approximately 360,000 ounces of gold at an average grade of 15 g/t gold from underground mining between 1895 and 1922.

The following map shows the anomalies identified by GTR.Metalicity’s success has encouraged GTR to accelerate the next phase of gold exploration drilling, targeting the prospective Niagara Project in the interim period whilst finalising the next phase of drilling in Utah.

By Meagan Evans

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The post GTI Resources doubles the size of its Utah uranium project areas along strike appeared first on The Australian Mining Review.

The company has a well-established position in the Perth Basin, having focused on a new phase of activity centred on the L7 (R1) Mt Horner acquisition, and the adjacent Wye Knot-1 drilling program in EP 437.

The Perth Basin has become a hot spot for oil and gas explorers on the back of corporate activity, exploration success and recognition of the promising supply demand dynamics that should support strong pricing in the coming years.

Highlighting why there is interest in this region is Strike Energy (ASX: STX), which received an overnight five-fold share price increase after announcing a significant gas discovery in the Kingia sandstone as part of the West Erregulla-2 drilling campaign.

This resulted in Strike’s market capitalisation soaring from less than $100 million at the start of fiscal 2020 to more than $400 million as its shares increased from approximately 6 cents to hit a high of 31.5 cents.

Shares in Key Petroleum increased more than threefold when Strike Energy released its news, due to the fact that it has substantial acreage and established resources in close proximity to Strike’s discovery.

While Key’s price has come off following a drop in the oil price, it could provide a buying opportunity for investors who like targeting under the radar stocks.

Key’s assets

Importantly, the group’s Bookara Shelf Project which incorporates the L7 (R1) Mt Horner acquisition, and the adjacent Wye Knot-1 drilling program in EP 437, comprises Key’s Perth Basin holdings and is located near infrastructure including pipelines and refineries in the Perth Basin.

Beharra Deep, West Erregulla and Waitsia gas discoveries lie on trend to the south from the Bookara Shelf Project.

Prospective resources for EP 437 and L7 now include the deeper Kingia/High Cliff Reservoirs, representing a material impact for the Bookara Shelf Project.

The case for Key Petroleum

While STX is one of only a handful of companies with acreage exposed to the Kingia/High Cliff play, Key Petroleum is the only one with on trend High Cliff and Kingia plays that remain undrilled.

However, the most useful means of arriving at a fair valuation for Key Petroleum at this stage is to weigh up the size of its resource against Norwest Energy (ASX: NWE).

One of the most important factors in terms of assessing Key’s investment metrics is its heavily discounted enterprise value relative to the likes of Strike and the smaller Norwest, which the has less to offer in the way of defined resources, yet trades at a significant premium to Key.

For example, Norwest has a mid-range estimated prospective gas resource of 92 billion cubic feet (BCF) at its EP 426 and EP 368 wells (net to Norwest – 20% stake).

This includes the Lockyer Deep-1 well which is a Kingia/High Cliff gas target with a 459Bcf mid case prospective gas resource (100%).

The $4 billion iron ore producer and mining services company Mineral Resources Ltd (ASX: MIN) is a substantial shareholder in Norwest with a stake of nearly 20%, and it has secured land access to drill the Lockyer Deep-1 well within EP368.

NWE has a 20% stake in this well and will contribute 20% of the cost.

Based solely on its gas resource, which exceeds that of Norwest by 60%, Key should be valued in the vicinity of $35 million.

However, Key’s enterprise value currently stands at approximately $4 million, making it a potential 10 bagger as it progresses to production and/or delivers a significant discovery in an area that is establishing itself as one of the most highly prospective regions in Australia.

Aside from its asset value, what makes Key all the more attractive is its ability to generate income from the company’s services business while investing in its exploration pursuits, leaving the group less reliant on raising capital.

Cash flow generation could be strengthened further in the near term if management chooses to monetise the oil resource that is on offer at L7, as this can relatively cheaply be trucked to the Kwinana oil refinery.

Demand for both oil and gas is likely to strengthen in the coming years, which should highlight the Perth Basin’s geographic advantages. With an important stake in a highly prospective onshore play in this region, Key is in a strong position to realise its value and emerge as a significant player.

By Jonathan Jackson

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Publications and Exhibitions Australia does and seeks to do business with companies featured in its articles. As a result, investors should be aware that the Firm may have a conflict of interest that could affect the objectivity of this article. Investors should consider this article as only a single factor in making any investment decision. The publishers of this article also wish to disclose that they may hold this stock in their portfolios and that any decision to purchase this stock should be done so after the purchaser has made their own inquires as to the validity of any information in this article.

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GTi Resources (ASX: GTR) first came to investors’ attention in April this year, following the announcement that it was in possession of a number of past producing uranium and vanadium properties located in Utah, USA and would start its maiden drill program at the highly prospective Jeffrey Project.

In March/April, this company was an unknown microcap stock priced below 1c, but with momentum in the story over May, the company’s share price ran to over 5 cents.

It has since retreated to 2.7 cents. However the company’s project is more advanced than back in May and could now be on the cusp of a potential re-rate on the back of drill results which are just days away.

A significant drill hit could send GTi Resources on a swift upward trajectory again, proving that it pays to be an early mover in a burgeoning sector.

GTi Resources was the first of the ASX explorers to make this kind of move in this sector in the US. As such, the company is in the enviable position of already having conducted a drill campaign, with investors now waiting on drill results.

GTi Resources’ properties are located close to a major highway, grid power and local skilled workforce. Most importantly, it is also within trucking distance to a fully permitted and operational uranium/vanadium processing mill owned and operated by the ~ CA$250m market capped Energy Fuels (TSE: EFR). Known as the White Mesa mill, this is the only operating conventional uranium and vanadium mill in the US.

The Properties cover ~1,500 hectares of the Henry Mountains region, a historically highly prolific region, which has, in the past, provided the most important uranium resources in the USA. It forms part of the prolific Colorado Plateau uranium province.

Milestones on track

True to its nature of staying ahead of the uranium exploration pack, this week GTi Resources announced it had completed its maiden drill program on schedule at the Jeffrey Project, with the company successfully achieving the drilling and down-hole gamma logging of the targeted 12 diamond core drill holes to test the extent of shallow uranium and vanadium mineralisation across the southern portion of the Jeffrey Project.

The first set of eU3O8 downhole gamma assay results from the maiden drilling program are expected within 10 days, with drill core analysis results to follow by mid-August.

This has been a much-anticipated exploration program, highlighted by the seven-fold increase in the company’s share price over the last three months.

Given the shallow nature of the mineralised horizon, a total of 182 metres of core drilling was sufficient to gather a meaningful data set.

In addition to the 12 new drill holes, a further 6 historical drill holes were located near the newly drilled holes and subsequently logged with a downhole gamma probe.

The recent exploration work including the new drilling has quickly yielded data from 44 drill holes, including data from previous drilling, and this will be utilised to inform GTi Resources’ understanding of the mineralisation and to guide the next phase of exploration.

The next exploration phase may entail a much larger drill program, targeting potential development of a JORC code compliant Mineral Resource, ultimately guiding future production studies.

The shallow nature of the mineralisation allows for relatively low-cost rapid exploration.

GTi Resources is moving to rapidly advance its projects in Utah given the potential to supply high-grade uranium ore to help fill existing local mill processing capacity.

Management is also actively looking for value accretive opportunities to expand its US project portfolio in this space.

The macro thematic

The uranium investment thematic centres around the extent of the collapse in uranium production and exploration in the US, contrasted with the very strong signals the US Government is putting out around the importance of the uranium mining industry.

The US is the world’s largest consumer of uranium, requiring over 48 mlbs per annum.

Nuclear power is intrinsically tied to US national security, and the Federal Government has stated that it will take bold action to revive and strengthen the uranium mining industry.

GTi Resources picked its uranium/vanadium ground next to a producing mill fully aware that the US market has strong demand and no supply.

It was inevitable the country would have to act on this imbalance and recently the US sounded its intention to once again become a world power in nuclear energy.

This comes at a time when, up until recently, the uranium spot price has been on the rise; note activity in the sector is still ramping up.

Twenty new nuclear reactors are scheduled to come online and over ten reactors are expected to be constructed per year between 2020 and 2030.

Looking globally, substantial ongoing supply disruptions from large global producers including Cameco (Canada) and Kazatomprom (Kazakhstan) in 2020 are expected to accelerate demand.

As an early mover small cap stock in this sector, GTi Resources could be well placed in this supply/demand equation.

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The company recently announced results of a pre-feasibility study (PFS) for its proposed lithium hydroxide chemical plant and an updated scoping study for its mine and integrated project in North Carolina to service electric vehicle (EV) production in the US Auto Alley.

With operations wholly based in the US, Piedmont would provide local and European auto plants with a more secure supply chain of high-quality LiOH. Currently China accounts for 80% of the world’s LiOH production and nearly 100% of spodumene conversion.

The results showed that the two project options (“Merchant” where Piedmont converts and manufactures LiOH from the global spodumene supply market at its chemical plant; and “Integrated” where Piedmont mines spodumene itself from its mineral resources site before concentrating and converting it at the plant) are set to deliver excellent results with lower operating costs over the 25-year project life.

The Merchant project will provide the increasing number of spodumene concentrate producers in Australia, The Americas, Europe and Africa an alternative non-Chinese processing route for their material for the first time. Piedmont is actively engaged with several parties to progress the securing of feed material for the plant.

Piedmont has also updated the Integrated Project Scoping Study for its spodumene-to-hydroxide business located in North Carolina, USA.

Piedmont holds a 100% interest in the Integrated project located within the Carolina Tin-Spodumene Belt, which historically provided most of the world’s lithium between the 1950s and the 1980s.

The post Aiming high for low costs appeared first on The Australian Mining Review.

The company’s recovery on the market, is due to the work it is doing to help the world become a more sustainable place.

When COVID-19 struck, Vulcan’s stock was sold off to as low as 15¢ per share amid the uncertainty, having climbed to 38¢ per share — an almost 150% gain from the start of the year.

Since then, buyers have begun to return to the stock, more than doubling the company’s share price from its March lows.

Further gains are predicted, with German research house Alster Research setting a price target of $2.45 (€1.45) per share on VUL. Alster stated, this would be “the first time in our company history of 14 years we initiate coverage with a ten-bagger”.

The $15 million capped Vulcan, is attracting increased attention as it seeks to supply the crucial battery material, lithium hydroxide, to the European electric vehicle battery market (EVBM) — the fastest growing EVBM market in the world.

The EVBM market will be crucial to the plans of governments around the world as they look at sustainable ways to come out of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The European Union, in particular, has set a goal to become climate neutral by 2050.

The EU has recognised climate change and environmental degradation as “an existential threat to Europe and the world” and seeks to build a resource-efficient economy where there are no net emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050 and economic growth is decoupled from resource use. The European Green Deal is a roadmap for making the EU’s economy sustainable. It will transform climate and environmental challenges into opportunities, boosting the efficient use of resources by moving to a clean, circular economy and restore biodiversity and cut pollution To achieve climate neutrality in 2050, a European Climate Law has been proposed that would turn the political commitment into a legal obligation and a trigger for investment.

The EU says reaching this target will require action by all sectors of the economy and includes investing in environmentally-friendly technologies, rolling out cleaner, cheaper and healthier forms of private and public transport and decarbonising the energy sector.

Vulcan recently presented its Zero Carbon LithiumTM Project to European Commission and European Investment Bank Vice-Presidents, alongside Volkswagen, BASF, Umicore and French utility company EDF as part of a European Battery Alliance (EBA) presentation by key European battery industry leaders.

Vice-President European Commission, Maros? S?efc?ovic? commented: “We will set up a dedicated alliance to remove bottlenecks in the critical raw materials supply chain. Europe will need 18x more lithium by 2030”.

He added, “I’m absolutely convinced that the owners of electric vehicles want a “full story”. They want to know that the product, the car, has been manufactured to the highest environmental standards. That the raw materials have been extracted in a sustainable way.”

Thus, Vulcan could play a crucial role in the EU’s plans.

Vulcan is extracting lithium from brine using geothermal power, via a process that generates zero net carbon emissions.

A scoping study undertaken in February by Vulcan, illustrated the potential for a combined operation producing lithium hydroxide and renewable energy, with net zero carbon footprint.

Importantly for the company, its investors and Europe’s sustainability targets, the Vulcan Zero Carbon LithiumTM Project became the first negative-carbon lithium project in the world — right in the heart of Europe’s auto and EV battery industry.

Location is important here.

Vulcan’s assets are located in Germany’s Upper Rhine Valley, which includes Europe’s largest lithium resource. This is where the company’s strong management team is based and where it can best demonstrate its progress towards a commercial dual revenue operation (geothermal energy and lithium hydroxide).

Further, the rise of Europe’s auto and battery industries and the increasing political pressure to reduce carbon emissions will open doors for Vulcan in securing approvals and funding.

Given its rapid momentum to date, construction of Vulcan’s own pilot plant to demonstrate and de-risk the Zero Carbon LithiumTM Project is expected to be completed this year.

By Jonathan Jackson

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Conflict of Interest Notice
Publications and Exhibitions Australia does and seeks to do business with companies featured in its articles. As a result, investors should be aware that the Firm may have a conflict of interest that could affect the objectivity of this article. Investors should consider this article as only a single factor in making any investment decision. The publishers of this article also wish to disclose that they may hold this stock in their portfolios and that any decision to purchase this stock should be done so after the purchaser has made their own inquires as to the validity of any information in this article.

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The information contained in this article is current at the finalised date. The information contained in this article is based on sources reasonably considered to be reliable and available in the public domain. No “insider information” is ever sourced, disclosed or used.

The post Vulcan Energy Resources strengthens its European lithium project through sustainability initiatives appeared first on The Australian Mining Review.

Tempus has two major projects: Blackdome-Elizabeth in Canada and Zamora in Ecuador.

The two projects offer investors a good balance of a high-risk, high reward play against certainty (in Canada), where there is an existing resource Tempus feels it can expand on.

Much of the money raised will go towards the Blackdome-Elizabeth Project, which comprises the Blackdome Gold Mine and Elizabeth Gold Deposit located in the Tier-1 jurisdiction of British Columbia, Canada.

Blackdome and Elizabeth are two deposits, making up one project that is significantly de-risked by previous production history, with demonstrated excellent metallurgical recoveries and key approvals and permits received.

Furthermore, with solid infrastructure in place, this project provides Tempus with a pathway for a low cost, fast-track re-start.

Mineral Creek was the subject of a 50% share price rise following the recent release of historical data showing presence of bonanza gold grades.

The money raised will facilitate drilling in mid-late June, with the personnel on site in the next week or two to ensure roads are cleared and to make other preparations for drilling to start.

The 2020 exploration program at Blackdome-Elizabeth is currently on schedule for commencement in the June quarter, and will comprise sampling and analysis of potentially mineralised drill core from previous drilling programs.

Significant drilling and sampling programs will focus on resource extension, verification, and exploration of newly discovered targets, including the prospect 2.5 kilometres from the known Elizabeth deposit.

As for the details of the raise, Tempus successfully completed a bookbuild for the issue of approximately 26,169,868 million new shares to raise approximately $4 million at an average issue price of 15.3 cents per share.

The placement was to sophisticated and institutional investors, including Sprott Capital Partners, a prominent investor in the mining industry and an Asia-based specialist natural resources investment fund.

A small proportion of funds will also be allocated to its operations in Ecuador, the high-risk, high reward project in the company’s overall gold play.

Tempus Resources’ Ecuadorian ground is situated directly adjacent to C$2.6 billion capped Lundin Gold’s (TSE: LUG) Fruta del Norte tenements.

Fruta del Norte hosts an NI43-101 Indicated Mineral Resource of 23.8 million tonnes at 9.61 g/t gold and a further Inferred Mineral Resource of 11.6 million tonnes at 5.69 g/t gold (9.48Moz total).

This is sought after ground.

The $19.3 billion capped Newcrest Mining (ASX: NCM) is seeking to raise $1.1 billion to fund future growth, whilst expanding its exposure to gold production at Fruta del Norte, having raised its ownership stake in Lundin to 32% in December last year.

Newcrest managing director Sandeep Biswas said the purchase was in line with the company’s growth strategy, “The acquisition is expected to be earnings accretive with the gold prepay and stream facilities expected to provide Newcrest with economic exposure to approximately 400,000 ounces of gold from the mine between 2020 and 2026,” Biswas said.

Newcrest’s move w2as a strategic one, given Lundin’s move from C30¢ to C$40 on some eye-watering gold discoveries.

Given its position, Tempus would be hoping for similar traction.

TMR’s Ecuadorian project hosts similar geochemistry, alteration and geological features to Lundin Gold’s Fruta del Norte.

On the back of Lundin’s success, Ecuador has become one of the most sought after exploration jurisdictions for gold and base metals exploration. The South American country is home to mining giants BHP (ASX: BHP), SolGold (LON: SOLG), Fortescue (ASX: FMG) and Newcrest Mining (ASX: NCM).

With money now in the bank, TMR, would be looking to capitalise on its high risk high reward play in Ecuador, whilst furthering its stable Canadian asset with work to begin in Canada in the coming weeks.

By Jonathan Jackson

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