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Balkan Mining and Minerals Ltd (ASX: BMM; “Balkan Mining” or “the Company”) is pleased to advise that initial desktop studies of Balkan Mining’s 100% owned Corvette North and Corvette Northwest which cover ~22km2 in the prolific James Bay lithium region in Quebec, Canada, have been completed.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Initial desktop studies of Balkan Mining’s recently staked Corvette North and Corvette Northwest Projects which cover ~22km2 in the prolific James Bay lithium region in Quebec, Canada, have been completed.
- Corvette North and Corvette Northwest are situated approximately 10km to 15km from Patriot Battery Metals Inc (ASX.PMT) Corvette project which has recently announced exciting lithium results, including 156.9m at 2.12% Li2O1 and 159.7m at 1.65% Li2O2.
- Amphibolites (denoted in light green in Figure 1) are known to host spodumene-bearing pegmatites, and Balkan Mining notes that both projects host these formations.
- Managing Director Ross Cotton and Director elect Karl Simich will be on the ground late February with Balkan Mining’s geological team to finalise plans for the upcoming work programs.
Corvette North and Corvette Northwest are situated approximately 10km from Patriot Battery Metals Inc (ASX.PMT) Corvette project which has recently announced exciting lithium results, including 156.9m at 2.12% Li2O1 and 159.7m at 1.65% Li2O2.
Amphibolites (denoted in light green in Figure 1) are known to host spodumene-bearing pegmatites, and Balkan Mining notes that both projects host these formations.
Further, the Company has assessed local infrastructure (please refer to Figure 2) and notes that both Corvette North and Corvette Northwest are close to power, roads and numerous airports.
Director elect Karl Simich (to be voted upon by shareholders February 13, 2023) and Managing Director Ross Cotton, will be on the ground late February with Balkan Mining’s geological team to finalise plans for the upcoming work programs.
Mr Simich has 36 years’ experience with publicly listed mining and exploration companies on the ASX, TSX and LSE, most recently as the founder, Managing Director and CEO of Sandfire Resources (ASX: SFR) between 2006 and September 2022.
During this time, he guided Sandfire through the discovery, financing, development and successful 10-year operation of the highly profitable DeGrussa Copper Operations in Western Australia. He oversaw the implementation of Sandfire’s international expansion strategy to become a globally significant copper miner, including the US$1.865 billion acquisition of the MATSA copper operations in Spain. At the end of his tenure, Sandfire had mining operations and development projects spanning three continents.
Figure 1 – Geology map of wider project area
The projects are located in northern Quebec within the central parts of the La Grande Greenstone Belt, in the James Bay Region, Quebec. The property is situated due north and northwest of the Corvette Lithium Projects of Patriot Battery Metals (ASX.PMT). The rock types of the La Grande Greenstone Belt are dominated by amphibolite facies, mafic to ultramafic metavolcanics and intermediate to mafic paragneiss units. This stratigraphy is analogous to PMET Corvette property where pegmatite intrusions are hosted within basalt derived amphibolite rocks.
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This article includes content from Balkan Mining and Minerals, licensed for the purpose of publishing on Investing News Australia. This article does not constitute financial product advice. It is your responsibility to perform proper due diligence before acting upon any information provided here. Please refer to our full disclaimer here.
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Balkan Mining and Minerals
Investor Insight
Amid a growing critical minerals sector and supportive legislative agenda, Balkan Mining offers a compelling option to participate in the growing European battery metals market.
Overview
The recent boom in electric vehicle (EV) adoption and green technologies has seen global demand for lithium skyrocket. Analysts believe EV penetration could reach 35% by 2030, which means lithium production will need to quadruple between 2020 and 2030 to satisfy this growing demand.
Lithium production is often associated with countries like Chile, Australia and Argentina — but strategic policy shifts in the European Union have led Europe to look inward for essential battery metals, placing the spotlight directly on the Balkan states. While the Balkan states, which includes Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia and Slovenia, are best known for historic gold production — recent lithium discoveries in Serbia have renewed interest in this region.
Balkan Mining and Minerals (ASX:BMM) is focused on an early-stage exploration through the full development of lithium and boron mining in the Balkan region. The company is committed to building an ethical resource portfolio backed by strategic partnerships and guided by an experienced board and management with regional expertise.
The Balkan states, and Serbia in particular, are well-endowed with many minerals and have attracted a surge in foreign investors for the exploration of mining operations. Serbia's Vardar zone is an emerging tier 1 lithium-borate jurisdiction. Balkan Mining and Minerals is well-positioned to capture the growth of the European lithium and boron supply chain.
Balkan Mining and Minerals' flagship Rekovac lithium-borate project demonstrated two successful diamond drill holes discovering preserved lithium and borate mineralization. The company recently completed its surface mapping program. With the success of the initial drilling and exploration, Balkan is well-positioned to commence its drill program in late September 2021.
The company continues to expand its reach across Serbia with four new exploration permits recently granted. The Ursule and Siokovac licenses provide expansion of Rekovac and span nearly 200 square kilometers. The Dobrinja and Pranjani licenses provide access to Western Serbia with favorable lacustrine strata for hosting lithium and boron.
"It's the right region, it's the right commodity and the right capital structure with the right investors… the key thing to add to that is what differentiates this particular lithium project from many of the other … lithium companies, at least listed in Australia, is the borate angle… So that makes these types of things extremely economic and extremely easy to mine and process," commented Ross Cotton, managing director.
Balkan Mining and Minerals is backed by Sandfire Resources (ASX:SFR). The company's current market cap is AU$36 million with 45 million shares on issue.
The leadership of Balkan Mining and Minerals includes a highly commercial board with decades of experience. Sean Murray serves as chairman and brings executive experience from Rio Tinto and expertise in industrial minerals. General Manager Dejan Jovanovic is the Balkan region expert with over 15 years of experience as a geologist. The company has a strong combination of experience and expertise to be a leader in the lithium and boron space.
Company Highlights
- Balkan Mining and Minerals is a publicly-listed exploration and development company focused on lithium and boron mining in the Balkan region.
- The Rekovac project has demonstrated promising results in its early exploration phase and is on track for additional explorations and assessments within the Ursule and Siokovac licensed areas.
- The Cacak project provides new access to underexplored areas of the Vardar Zone, an emerging tier 1 lithium-borate jurisdiction. The company is looking to expand beyond the Rekovac project and region.
- The company is backed by leaders in the space and has performed well since its IPO. An experienced board and regional management expertise equip Balkan Mining and Mineral to be a leader in the lithium-borate space and are in the right space at the right time.
Key Projects
Rekovac Lithium-Borate Project
The flagship Rekovac lithium-borate project is located in the world-class Vardar Zone in Serbia, an emerging tier 1 lithium-borate jurisdiction. The project has easy access to the motorway and modern rail corridor, thus providing a solid infrastructure to Central and Western Europe.
The first two diamond drill holes (1,238 meters) revealed preserved lithium and borate mineralization at both sites. The second drill hole (REK-002) intercepted over 171 meters with over 10,000 ppm of B2O3 and up to 969 ppm Li2O from 35 meters including 49.6 meters with over 20,000 ppm of B2O3 and up to 624 ppm Li2O from 51.5 meters.
The success of the initial drilling and exploration has provided a solid foundation to explore additional areas of Rekovac as well as two additional adjacent areas under the Ursule and Siokovac licenses. The recently completed surface mapping of the entire Rekovac area has identified five dominating sedimentary formations. The samples will be sent to a laboratory for mineral phase determination using the X-ray diffraction method.
Balkan Mining and Minerals plans to measure magnetic properties over the entire diamond drill core. In addition to measuring magnetic susceptibility, the company will measure the bulk density of samples selected from the drill core. These two parameters will guide geophysics surveys across high-priority areas and ultimately define and commence new drilling programs.
Cacak Project
The Cacak project comprises the Dobrinja and Pranjani license and is located in Western Serbia about 90 kilometers south-southwest of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. A database study conducted by the Yugoslav Geological Survey identified favorable lacustrine strata for hosting lithium and boron.
The project is in its early exploration phase and will focus on target generation using regional geophysics, geological mapping, and surface sampling. Upon completion of the initial assessment, drill testing of the target locations will be conducted. The licensed areas are within the Vardar Zone and present the company with another location for extracting lithium and boron minerals.
Management Team
Ross Cotton – Managing Director
Ross Cotton has over 15 years of experience in the securities and mining industries and has been instrumental in both the financing and management of mining and resource companies globally.Cottons' experience in investment banking and equity capital markets has provided him with detailed experience in corporate transaction management and execution. In these roles, Cotton has been integral in the recapitalization and restructuring of companies, including managing of initial public offerings and reverse takeovers. In addition to a number of managerial roles with ASX listed companies, Cotton has also provided corporate advisory services to listed companies on strategy, acquisitions as well as financing via both debt and equity for a number of years.Cotton currently manages a private mining strategy and finance consulting business and utilizes his networks established in investment banking, mining and management to provide solutions for the effective implementation of business strategies and management solutions.
Sean Murray – Non-executive Chairperson
Sean Murray has an Honors degree in modern languages and a post-graduate Master's Degree in Business Management and Economics from the Manchester Business School, part of the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology, in the United Kingdom. Murray has more than 40 years of experience worldwide in the chemicals and mining industries, including non-ferrous metals and minerals and industrial minerals. His successful executive management career includes senior roles with Australian Mining and Smelting (CRA), Pasminco Europe and Pasminco Inc and Rio Tinto plc where he became Managing Director of Borax Europe and then Deputy Chief Executive, Rio Tinto Borax in the 1990s and early 2000s.
Murray has also served on the boards of Rio Tinto operating companies either as president or as an executive director in the USA (California), Argentina, France, Germany, Holland, Spain and Italy. He has been a Vice-President of the European Zinc Institute (The Hague), and an Industry Advisor on non-ferrous metals and minerals to the UK government at the International Lead Zinc Study Group, (United Nations). He was a vice-president of the Industrial Minerals Association and president of the European Borates Association in Brussels where he became involved in Public Relations and Sustainable Development.
Since 2005, Murray has provided consulting services on marketing, planning and strategy to the industrial minerals sector in Europe, Australia and the Americas and has held non-executive directorships on the boards of AIM and ASX listed copper, gold, tungsten, potash and fluorspar companies including, Fluormin plc (formerly LSE:FLOR and Potash Minerals Ltd (formerly (ASX:POK)). He was a senior partner in a New York based LLP developing minerals businesses in the former Soviet Union. Murray is fluent in a number of European languages including German and Spanish.
Murray has British and Irish citizenship and lives in Surrey in the United Kingdom.
Luke Martino – Non-executive Director
Luke Martino is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia and the Australian Institute of Company Directors, having worked for over 30 years with major accounting firms, where he held senior leadership positions and Board memberships including Lead Partner of Deloitte's Growth Solutions practice in Perth until 2007 when he left to establish boutique corporate advisory and accounting firm, Indian Ocean Advisory Group.
Martino has extensive experience in mining and resources, property and hospitality industries and is a specialist in corporate and growth consulting.
Martino currently acts as a Chairman of Jadar Resources Limited (ASX: JDR) and is also Executive Director of Indian Ocean Consulting Group Pty Ltd. Martino's previous roles have included acting as Non-Executive Director of Skin Elements Ltd (ASX: SKN), Pan Asia Corporation Limited (ASX: PZC), Non-Executive Chairman and Director of Central Asia Resources Limited (ASX: CVR) and former Company Secretary of Blackgold International Holdings Limited (ASX: BGG).
Milos Bosnjakovic – Non-executive Director
Milos Bosnjakovic is a lawyer by profession with strong links and experience in the Balkan countries of the former Yugoslavia Republics, Australia and New Zealand. He has been involved in the resources industry in Australia and the Balkans for almost 20 years and has considerable corporate experience within the industry.
Bosnjakovic is a dual national of Australia and Bosnia and Herzegovina and was also the co-founder of ASX-listed Sultan Corporation Limited which became Balamara Resources Limited, which held the Monty Zinc Project in Montenegro. Milos was co-founder of ASX-listed Adriatic Metals PLC (ASX: ADT) and his previous roles have also included acting as Non-Executive Director and Country Manager of Adriatic Metals PLC.
Dejan Jovanovic – General Manager
Dejan Jovanovic is a geologist with more than 15 years of experience in managing complex exploration projects and mineral deposit evaluation. He is a well-rounded exploration professional with significant commodity experience including lithium, borates, base and precious metals. Jovanovic implemented and encouraged the highest standards of technical and operational excellence across multiple project support groups. He has held numerous positions throughout his career including notable roles with Rio Tinto (Serbia) where he worked on Rio Tinto's Jadar lithium-borate deposit; senior exploration roles with Lithium Li Ltd / Pan Global Resources Inc. serving as a key leadership capacity for exploration programs in the Balkans. Jovanovic has also acted as an exploration management consultant to various clients including European Lithium and General Manager Exploration for Jadar Resources Limited (ASX:JDR).
Jovanovic holds a Master of Science in Economic and Exploration Geology from the University of Belgrade, and a member of the Professional Geological Societies (QP), and a fellow of the European Federation Geologist (CP in accordance with the JORC Code).
Harry Spindler – Company Secretary
Harry Spindler is an experienced corporate professional with a broad range of corporate governance and capital markets experience, having held various company secretary positions and been involved with several public company listings, merger and acquisition transactions and capital raisings for ASX-listed companies across a diverse range of industries over the past 22 years.
Spindler is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand and a member of the Financial Services Institute of Australia. Spindler began his career in corporate recovery and restructuring at one of Australia's leading independent financial advisory and restructuring providers Ferrier Hodgson (now KPMG) and has for the past 11 years working for a corporate advisory firm, Indian Ocean Consulting, through which he has advised a number of clients in a range of industries, as well as held positions as company secretary for a number of ASX-listed companies, including Sino Gas & Energy Holdings Ltd (ASX:SEH; ASX:300), an Australian energy company focused on developing gas assets in China.
Karl Simich - Director
As director, Karl Simich has a particular focus on strategy, corporate development and stakeholder relations. Prior to joining Balkan, Simich was the founder, managing director and CEO of Sandfire Resources for 15 years, overseeing the company's transformational growth from a junior micro-cap to a successful, global mid-tier producer. He oversaw the implementation of Sandfire's international expansion strategy, including the $1.865 billion acquisition of the MATSA copper operations in Spain. Simich has 36 years of experience with publicly listed mining and exploration companies. Throughout his career, Simich has overseen the financing and development of more than 10 mines in Australia, New Zealand and Africa.
Nenad Loncarevic – Senior Exploration Geologist
Nenad Loncarevic has 30 years of mineral exploration experience. He is highly experienced in target generation, project evaluation and exploration program implementation for gold, base metals and industrial minerals. Loncarevic possesses an outstanding knowledge of many deposit styles with particular strengths in polymetallic systems and sedimentary type deposits.
Prior to joining Balkan Mining and Minerals, Loncarevic held senior exploration roles with companies including Medgold Resources Corp. (TSXV:MED), Ultra Lithium (TSXV:ULI) & Dundee Precious Metals Inc. (TSX:DPM).
Loncarevic holds a Master of Science in Economic and Exploration Geology from the University of Belgrade.
Industrial Forward Osmosis Update
CleanTech Lithium PLC (AIM:CTL, Frankfurt:T2N, OTCQX:CTLHF), an exploration and development company advancing sustainable lithium projects in Chile, is pleased to update that the industrial forward osmosis ("iFO") unit has arrived and is being installed at the facilities of Condutive Energy in Chicago, USA, where concentrated eluate from the Company´s pilot plant will be converted into battery-grade lithium carbonate. This marks the final piece of equipment required for the downstream conversion process to begin.
Figures 1 to 3: iFO demonstration unit with capacity to process 35 m3/day of eluate arriving at Conductive Energy's site in Chicago, USA
Using iFO has several benefits to the downstream conversion processs, as communicated previously (RNS 19th Sept 2024), such as higher water recovery and lower energy consumption and CO2 emissions compared to using conventional thermal evaporators. This further enhances the potential environmental benefits and process efficiency that the Company aims to achieve in applying Direct Lithium Extraction ("DLE") to produce lithium from brine.
The initial volume of 88m3 of concentrated eluate from Laguna Verde, equal to approximately one tonne of lithium carbonate equivalent ("LCE"), is at Conductive Energy´s facility, with the conversion process to battery-grade lithium to begin in the coming days. With this product, the Company plans to engage with strategic partners for product qualification.
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For further information contact: | |
Steve Kesler/Gordon Stein/Nick Baxter | Jersey office: +44 (0) 1534 668 321 Chile office: +562-32239222 |
Or via Celicourt | |
Celicourt Communications Felicity Winkles/Philip Dennis/Ali AlQahtani | +44 (0) 20 7770 6424 |
Beaumont Cornish Limited (Nominated Adviser) Roland Cornish/Asia Szusciak | +44 (0) 20 7628 3396 |
Fox-Davies Capital Limited (Joint Broker) Daniel Fox-Davies | +44 (0) 20 3884 8450 |
Canaccord Genuity (Joint Broker) James Asensio | +44 (0) 20 7523 4680 |
About Reach announcements
This is a Reach announcement. Reach is an investor communication service aimed at assisting listed and unlisted (including AIM quoted) companies to distribute media only / non-regulatory news releases into the public domain. Information required to be notified under the AIM Rules for Companies, Market Abuse Regulation or other regulation would be disseminated as an RNS regulatory announcement and not on Reach.
Notes
CleanTech Lithium (AIM:CTL, Frankfurt:T2N, OTCQX:CTLHF) is an exploration and development company advancing sustainable lithium projects in Chile for the clean energy transition. Committed to net-zero, CleanTech Lithium's mission is to produce material quantities of sustainable battery grade lithium products using Direct Lithium Extraction technology powered by renewable energy. The Company plans to be a leading supplier of 'green' lithium to the EV and battery manufacturing market.
CleanTech Lithium has two key lithium projects in Chile, Laguna Verde and Viento Andino, and hold licences in Llamara and Salar de Atacama, located in the lithium triangle, a leading centre for battery grade lithium production. The two major projects: Laguna Verde and Viento Andino are situated within basins controlled by the Company, which affords significant potential development and operational advantages. All four projects have direct access to existing infrastructure and renewable power.
CleanTech Lithium is committed to using renewable power for processing and reducing the environmental impact of its lithium production by utilising Direct Lithium Extraction with reinjection of spent brine. Direct Lithium Extraction is a transformative technology which removes lithium from brine, with higher recoveries than conventional extraction processes. The method offers short development lead times with no extensive site construction or evaporation pond development so there is minimal water depletion from the aquifer. www.ctlithium.com
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