Spotlight: Energy transition metals shine

In December, Chilean industrial miner CAP became the third strategic shareholder in rare earths developer Aclara Resources (TSX: ARA), joining Hochschild Mining (LSE: HOC) and New Hartsdale Capital. All three companies participated in a US$25-million private placement at 70¢ a share, representing a 41% premium to Aclara’s closing share price prior to the announcement, and giving CAP an initial 10.2% stake in the junior. Hochschild’s ownership rose slightly to 19.7%, and New Hartsdale maintained its stake at 37%.

CAP already has a joint venture with Aclara to advance alloy-making capabilities to convert refined rare earth oxides into alloys required for fabricating permanent magnets. CAP will leverage its expertise in metal refining and special ferro-alloyed steels. Funds from the private placement will be used toward advancing Aclara’s Carina heavy rare earths project in Brazil’s central Goias state and further the company’s broader efforts to develop a vertically integrated supply chain for rare earth alloys used in permanent magnets.

Aclara expects to complete a prefeasibility study on Carina in the third quarter and have three-quarters of a feasibility study finished by year-end. It is targeting commissioning in 2029 but is considering plans to accelerate the timeline to 2027-2028. In September, a preliminary economic assessment of the ion adsorption clay project outlined a 22-year mine life producing 191 tonnes of dysprosium-terbium a year (the equivalent of about 13% of China’s 2023 official production) and another 13,500 tonnes of neodymium-praseodymium. The study delivered an after-tax net present value (at an 8% discount rate) of US$2.2 billion and an internal rate of return of 33%. Initial capex of US$599 million could be repaid in 3.4 years.

Aclara also has an ionic clay deposit rich in heavy rare earths in Concepcion, Chile. Separately, Aclara Technologies, the company’s U.S. subsidiary developing rare earth element processing technologies, is working with the U.S. Department of Commerce to identify the best site for installing a separation facility in the U.S. The facility will process mixed rare earth carbonates sourced from Aclara’s projects and separate them into pure individual rare earth oxides. Aclara Resources has a market cap of about $86.5 million.

Cornish Lithium

In October, Cornish Lithium opened the U.K.’s first low-emission lithium hydroxide demonstration plant at St. Dennis near TreLith in the historic mining region of Cornwall. The £9-million (US$11-million) plant will produce battery-grade lithium hydroxide samples from granite extracted from a former china clay pit at its Trelavour hard rock lithium project.

Cornish Lithium says it will complete a feasibility study by the middle of this year and expects that once in commercial production, Trelavour will produce 10,000 tonnes of lithium hydroxide a year. (A 2022 scoping study forecast a 20-year mine life producing 7,800 tonnes per year.) In September, the U.K. government designated Trelavour as a development of national significance to build a domestic supply of lithium to grow the country’s battery sector and accelerate its transition to renewable energy.

Qualifying for the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Planning regime will “provide clarity in terms of the planning process for Trelavour and certainty in the context of our development timelines,” Jeremy Wrathall, founder, chairman, and CEO, said in a release. Cornish Lithium has also signed a memorandum of understanding with Germany’s HELM, one of the largest independent chemical companies in the world, to work together to produce battery-grade lithium compounds from its geothermal brines.

Lithium was first discovered in ‘hot springs’ in Cornish tin and copper mines in 1864, and the company says there is significant potential to extract lithium-enriched geothermal waters across the region by drilling surface boreholes into permeable geological faults at depth beneath the old mine workings. The geothermal waters will be pumped to the surface and tested. Cornish Lithium then plans to use direct lithium extraction (DLE) technologies to remove the lithium from the waters starting at its primary United Downs project.

In September 2023, Cornish Lithium announced an initial investment of £53.6 million (US$65.6 million) from a group of institutional investors led by the UK Infrastructure Bank, which is owned by the U.K. government, alongside the Energy & Minerals Group (EMG) and existing shareholder Techmet.

Euro Manganese

Euro Manganese (TSXV: EMN; ASX: EMN; US-OTC: EUMNF) is developing its Chvaletice manganese project in the Czech Republic with the goal of producing high-purity manganese for the electric vehicle industry. The project involves reprocessing tailings from a decommissioned manganese deposit about 90 km east of Prague that was mined between 1951 and 1975.

Commercial development of the Chvaletice tailings could provide up to 20% of projected 2030 European demand for high-purity manganese, according to the company. In August, it applied to have the project designated strategic under the European Union’s Critical Raw Materials Act.

Lithium-ion batteries used in EVs contain manganese in their cathodes. But a bottleneck in supply is due to the lack of high-purity refining capacity. In June, Euro Manganese successfully commissioned a demonstration plant and produced samples of high-purity manganese sulphate monohydrate (HPMSM) from high-purity electrolyte manganese metal (HPEMM). The plant can produce the equivalent of about 33 kg of HPEMM a day, which the company said can be converted into about 100 kg per day of HPMSM.

A continuous five-day test in October produced 172 kg of HPEMM — exceeding the company’s target by more than 30%. The electrowinning circuit produced selenium-free HPEMM flakes grading 99.9% manganese. The demonstration plant will also produce by-product samples for testing and marketing of magnesium carbonate. Euro Manganese plans to test other feedstocks, too, including manganese by-products from the processing of “black mass,” recycled battery material.

The demonstration plant will serve as a testing and training facility, and the data will be fed into the engineering process for a commercial plant. A 2022 feasibility study forecast a 25-year project life producing about 1.2 million tonnes of HPEMM, about two-thirds of which is expected to be converted into HPMSM on-site.

First Phosphate  

A preliminary economic assessment of First Phosphate’s (CSE: PHOS; US-OTC: FRSPF) Bégin-Lamarche project in Quebec released in December estimated annual average production of 900,000 tonnes of beneficiated phosphate concentrate at 40% phosphorus pentoxide (P205) and another 380,000 tonnes of magnetite at 92% iron oxide (Fe203) content. The mine life would be 23 years.  

The project, 75 km northwest of Saguenay, would generate an after-tax net present value (at an 8% discount rate) of $1.6 billion and an internal rate of return of 33%. Pre-production capex of $675 million could be paid back in just under three years. The company’s phosphate will be used to produce cathode active material for the lithium iron phosphate battery industry. 

Last month First Phosphate signed a technology license agreement with Praon SA to use the Belgian company’s technology to design, build, operate and maintain in Canada a merchant grade phosphoric acid manufacturing plant with a production capacity of 600 tonnes of P205 a day.  

First Phosphate also selected Italy’s Ballestra to provide engineering services for the project and signed two long-term offtake agreements with undisclosed “credit-worthy partners.” The definitive terms of the agreements will be finalized in separate agreements. 

The junior completed its first resource estimate in September. Bégin-Lamarche contains indicated resources of 41.5 million tonnes grading 6.49% P205, 10.69% Fe203, and 3.31% titanium dioxide (TiO2). Inferred resources add 214 million tonnes grading 6.01% P205, 10.89% Fe2O3, and 3.63% TiO2.  

First Phosphate has a market cap of about $22 million. 

Foran Mining  

Foran Mining (TSXV: FOR; US-OTC: FMCXF) expects commercial production at its McIlvenna Bay copper-zinc-gold-silver rich project in Saskatchewan to begin in the first half of 2026. 

The volcanogenic massive sulphide deposit, 375 km northeast of Saskatoon and 65 km west of Flin Flon, Man. is forecast to produce an average of 65 million lb. of copper-equivalent annually over an 18-year initial mine life, according to a 2022 feasibility study. 

In December, the Canadian government conditionally approved up to $20 million in funding to support construction of a hydroelectric transmission line and an on-site substation at the project as part of the federal critical minerals strategy.  

Mine construction is well underway, with the installation of the SAG mill shell, foundation work and rebar installation for the process plant and concrete works in the flotation areas and concentrate loadout. 

In October, Foran closed an amended and upsized US$250 million senior secured project facility with a fund managed by Sprott Resource Lending. Principal payments will start in June 2027. 

Meanwhile, exploration continues apace. In January, the company kicked off a 30,000-metre drill program—the largest in its history—at the project’s Tesla zone. Eight drill rigs will support an initial resource estimate for the zone, which remains open in all directions. 

Highlights from last year’s program at Tesla included drill hole TS-24-29, which returned 26.2 metres grading 1.68% copper, 1.18% zinc, 12.5 grams silver per tonne and 0.1 gram gold (2% copper-equivalent) starting from 1,284 metres downhole.  

The interval included 2.1 metres of 4.11% copper and 6.2 metres of 2.92% copper. Drill hole TS-24-34 cut 1.7 metres averaging 4.37% copper, 15.47% zinc, 27.1 grams silver and 0.28 gram gold (8.9% copper-equivalent) from 1,108 metres. 

The company also owns the Bigstone deposit, a development-stage deposit 25 km southwest of the McIlvenna Bay project. 

Foran Mining has a market cap of $1.6 billion. 

FPX Nickel  

FPX Nickel’s (TSXV: FPX; US-OTC: FPOCF) main Baptiste project in central British Columbia is to generate $45.6 billion in total GDP and $15.5 billion in federal, provincial and municipal taxes, according to an economic impact study the company released on Jan. 13. 

The Vancouver-based junior based the latest study on the findings of its 2023 prefeasibility study, which determined that an open-pit mine at Baptiste has the potential to produce an average of 59,100 tonnes of nickel a year over a mine life of 29 years. 

The nickel project, about 70 km west of Centerra Gold’s (TSX: CG; NYSE: CGAU) Mount Milligan open-pit mine, would generate an after-tax net present value (at an 8% discount rate) of US$2 billion and a 19% internal rate of return at a nickel price of US$8.75 per pound. Initial capex was pegged at US$2.9 billion with a payback period of 3.7 years. In stage one, the mill would run at 108,000 tonnes per day. Stage two, starting in year eight, would see an expansion to 162,000 tonnes per day. 

Last October, the company nearly doubled its claims package at Baptiste to 451 sq. km through a combination of staking and acquisitions.  

Baptiste is a greenfield discovery, and the nickel mineralization is in the form of a sulphur-free, nickel-iron mineral called awaruite (Ni3Fe) hosted in an ultramafic/ophiolite complex. The company has found awaruite mineralization at other locations on its claims package, including the Van target, about 6 km north of Baptiste. 

Japan’s Sumitomo Metal Mining and stainless-steel producer Outokumpu each hold a 9.9% stake in the junior and both have been granted the right to negotiate future nickel offtake agreements for up to 60,000 tonnes of nickel, or about 3.5% of Baptiste’s estimated life-of-mine production.  

A 2022 resource estimate outlined 1.82 billion indicated tonnes grading 0.21% total nickel for 3.83 million tonnes of contained nickel. Inferred resources stand at 339 million tonnes averaging 0.21% total nickel for 720,000 tonnes of the metal. 

FPX also has found awaruite mineralization at its Mich property in the Yukon with surface grades comparable to Baptiste. 

FPX Nickel has a market cap of about $77 million.  

Marimaca Copper (WC: 252) 

At the end of December, Marimaca Copper (TSX: MARI) announced it had found more copper mineralization about 400 metres north of its Pampa Medina deposit in the Antofgasta region of northern Chile. 

Drill hole SMR-01 returned 400 metres at 0.49% total copper starting from 250 metres downhole. Highlights from within the broad interval included 56 metres at 2.05% copper from 296 metres; 18 metres at 5.11% total copper from 320 metres; and 32 metres of 0.62% total copper from 618 metres. The company is considering plans to expand its exploration program at Pampa Medina Norte this year. 

Pampa Medina and Pampa Medina Norte are just 26 km from the company’s main Marimaca copper-oxide deposit.A definitive feasibility study is underway to evaluate the economics of a bulk tonnage operation. 

Marimaca is one of the few greenfield copper discoveries of the last decade and the company has drilled more than 120,000 metres at the 600-sq.-km project since 2016. 

Situated about 40 km from Antofagasta city and just 25 km from the port of Mejillones, the company envisions recycling seawater for its proposed solvent-extraction electrowinning processing plant. 

An updated resource estimate in 2023 for the deposit outlined measured and indicated resources of 200.3 million tonnes grading 0.45% total copper for 900,000 tonnes of contained copper and 37 million inferred tonnes averaging 0.38% copper for 141,000 tonnes of copper. The resource estimate used a cut-off grade of 0.15% total copper. 

Marimaca Copper has a market cap of about $540.4 million. 

Sigma Lithium Resources  

Sigma Lithium Resources (TSXV: SGML; NASDAQ: SGML) is ramping up production at its Grota do Cirilo operation in Brazil, one of the world’s largest hard-rock lithium deposits. 

The company produced about 75,000 tonnes of lithium concentrate in the fourth quarter, bringing its full-year production to 240,000 tonnes, and is on track to exceed its 2025 production target of 270,000 tonnes, it said in December.  

“We have researched and advanced dense media separation technology for lithium oxide concentrate, taking it to a unique level of production efficiency, reaching 70% of recovery at our Greentech industrial plant, while dry stacking 100% of the tailings, and reusing the water,” the company’s CEO, Ana Cabral, said in a Dec. 23 release.  

Stage one of operations started commercial production in the second quarter of 2023 and the company has approved construction of a second industrial plant to double capacity to 520,000 tonnes of lithium concentrate through in stage two.  

Sigma produces “Quintuple Zero Green” lithium at its Greentech lithium beneficiation plant, with “zero carbon-intensive energy, zero potable water, zero toxic chemicals and zero tailings dams.” 

In December, the company received an environmental license for the construction, installation and operation of Barreiro—a second mine on its Grota do Cirilio property. Once in production Barreiro will feed the plant with spodumene ore.  

Sigma Lithium Resources has a market cap of $2 billion.