Metals Australia Ltd (ASX: MLS) is ramping up exploration programs across Critical Minerals and gold targets on the three key projects acquired through the purchase of an 80% interest in Payne Gully Gold Pty Ltd (PGG)1.
Metals Australia CEO Paul Ferguson commented:
“These new exploration programs are important steps in advancing our extensive and highly prospective Critical Minerals and gold projects in WA and the NT, which are all located along strike from major deposits in world-class mineralised terranes.
High-quality drilling targets have been identified by our geological team at the Tennant Creek project, east of the high-grade Warrego copper-gold mine, and at our Warrambie project in the northwest Pilbara, which is only 10km east of the major Andover lithium discovery. We have also commenced a detailed aeromagnetic survey across a large project area located directly along strike from the 5-million-ounce Big Bell mine in WA’s Murchison district.
With exploration programs across five key projects in Australia and Canada, the second half of 2024 will be an extremely exciting period for the Company as we look to unlock the value of our portfolio.”
The target areas being tested are all located along strike from major mineral deposits (see Figure 1, below).
Figure 1: Metals Australia key Critical Minerals and gold exploration projects in world-class mineral terranes (adapted from Geoscience Australia, Australian Mineral Deposits)
Warrego East Copper-Gold Targets, Tennant Creek, NT
The Company’s Tennant Creek Project includes granted EL32725 at Warrego East and four EL applications, EL32397, EL32837, EL32410 and the more recent EL33853, located in the Tennant Creek Mineral Field (TCMF) (see Figure 2 below).
The TCMF has produced 25Mt @ 6.9 g/t gold (Au) & 2.8% copper (Cu) historically2, the equivalent of more than 8.5Moz or $20 billion worth of gold at current prices, with all production coming from deposits in outcropping areas.
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This article includes content from Metals Australia Ltd, 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.
Metals Australia (ASX:MLS) is a mineral exploration company with a high-quality portfolio of advanced battery minerals and metals projects in Tier 1 mining jurisdictions of Western Australia and Canada. The portfolio comprises two critical minerals projects in Quebec, Canada — the Lac Carheil flake graphite project and the Corvette River lithium (and gold) project. The Australian portfolio comprises four projects: Tennant Creek (copper-gold) in the Northern Territory and Warrambie (lithium, nickel-copper, gold), Murchison (gold) and Manindi (lithium, vanadium-titanium, zinc) – all in Western Australia.
The push for net zero targets and the call from policymakers to transition to cleaner energy has intensified the focus on electric vehicles (EVs) and battery storage. The EV automakers and battery manufacturers, rely on essential materials such as graphite and metals, including lithium, nickel, copper and cobalt, to manufacture the batteries that are used in these vehicles and storage batteries generally. This has driven carmakers and battery manufacturers to partner with battery material suppliers under direct off-take agreements. Further, some automakers/battery manufacturers are buying equity stakes in miners, involving them directly in financing decisions for the development of mining projects. This is encouraging for companies such as Metals Australia as it actively advances its projects towards development.
Figure 2 – Graphite is a Critical Mineral required for the mass electrification of auto transportation.
Metals Australia is focused on progressing its flagship Lac Carheil flake graphite project in Quebec, Canada. The project is well-positioned to supply high quality graphite products, including battery-grade graphite to the North American market – including for lithium-ion and EV battery production in the future. The company announced positive sampling results across a 36-km strike length of identified graphite trends at Lac Carheil, including many values over 20% Cg and an exceptionally high-grade sample containing over 63% Cg. The company has planned a drilling program to test new high-grade zones identified from the sampling program, which will form the basis for upgrading the existing Lac Carheil Mineral Resource. An application for the drilling program is progressing with the Quebec regulator. Additionally, the company has recently commenced a Flake Graphite concentrate prefeasibility study with Lycopodium in Ontario and a downstream battery anode plant design with ANZAPLAN in Germany.
Metals Australia is also advancing its lithium, gold and silver exploration project at Corvette River, which is adjacent to Patriot Battery Metals’ world-class lithium project. Further, the company carries out aggressive exploration programs at its other projects, including Manindi, Warrambie & the Murchison in Western Australia and Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory region of Australia.
Metals Australia is well-funded to complete all its planned exploration and project studies. The cash position at the end of Q1 2024 was AU$17.86 million, which we note was higher than the company’s market capital at current share price. Metals Australia benefits from a team of professionals boasting extensive expertise in geology and mining. The appointment of experienced mining executive Paul Ferguson as the CEO is positive for the company. Since joining in January 2024, he has significantly advanced planning and preparation for the exploration, metallurgical test work programs, and design studies required to move its flagship Lac Carheil high-grade graphite project towards development. The Corvette Project has also completed exploration planning and is now fully permitted for drilling and trenching work during the northern hemisphere summer.
Conceptual 3D Mining layout from February 2021 Scoping Study (Lac Carheil Project formerly named Lac Rainy Project)
The Lac Carheil Graphite Project is located in eastern Quebec, Canada, a tier 1 mining jurisdiction with access to excellent infrastructure, including hydroelectric power facilities. The project hosts an existing JORC 2012 mineral resource of 13.3 million tons (Mt) @ 11.5 percent graphitic carbon, which was announced in 2020 and a scoping study was completed and reported on in early 2021. Battery test work followed, in Germany, and this demonstrated the Lac Carheil Graphite concentrate could be shaped, purified, coated and used in battery applications with excellent results. Given the above work, the company carried out further field work, recently announcing exceptionally high-grade sampling results from 80 samples on 10 identified graphitic trends across the property. This included a sample containing 63 percent graphitic carbon, and 10 samples containing over 20% Cg. The average grade of the sampling was 11% Cg, which is comparable to the current high-grade resource. The combined strike length of the identified high-grade graphitic zones is over 36 kms. This compares to just 1 km of drilling on 1.6 kms of graphite trend that was utilised to obtain the existing resource. The potential for expanding and upgrading the existing resource remains enormous.
Figure 4 –Lac Carheil Graphite Project - Electromagnetic imagery outlining graphite trends and the resource
Additional drilling and development studies are either planned or are already underway, including a pre-feasibility study for a high grade Flake graphite concentrate product – which has commenced and a downstream purification options assessment and a scoping study for a battery anode facility in North America, which has been contracted. The company also announced it is contract ready for its planned drilling program and will fast-track the program as soon as permits are received from the Quebec regulator.
Figure 5 – The Corvette Projects in the James Bay region of Canada. Prospective for Lithium, Gold & Silver
The Warrambie project is located in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. It is 20 kms west of the Andover Lithium discovery (Azure Minerals (ASX:AZS). Metals Australia has completed geophysical surveys across the area and is identifying targets for further field exploration and drilling.
Metals Australia acquired the tenements as part of a package purchased from Payne Gully Gold in 2022. The company’s tenements include a granted exploration license (E32725) directly along strike to the east of the Warrego copper-gold deposit, which has a production of 1.45 Million Ounces of gold at 8 grams per tonne and over 90,000 tonnes of Copper at 2%. The Warrego mine operated from the late 1950’s through until 1989. It was found under sedimentary cover. The area and this land package is under detailed review utilizing available geophysical surveys. The company aims to identify further targets hidden under shallow sediment cover.
The Murchison tenements were also acquired as part of the Payne Gully Gold transaction. Metals Australia owns exploration licenses at the Murchison gold project, which is adjacent to the >5 million ounces (Moz) Big Bell gold deposit. The company plans to conduct detailed magnetics and gravity surveys to test for extensions and repeats of high-grade gold deposits.
A Mining Engineer, Paul Ferguson has over three decades of experience in the resources and energy sectors across North America, Asia and Australia. He has extensive project development and operational experience working in Canada. He has worked in oil & gas major ExxonMobil across project stages, including feasibility, design, construction, and operation. He has worked in Executive level roles within Australia, including at GMA Garnet and held increasingly more senior roles with BHP (Iron Ore & Coking Coal) and then with Exxon Coal Minerals and Mobil Oil Australia during the early stages of his career.
Tanya Newby is a finance and governance professional with over 20 years experience in various corporate and commercial roles. She has a strong background in the resources sector and has provided financial advice and assistance to a number of publicly listed entities through exploration, project development through to the production stage. Tanya is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, Member of the Governance Institute of Australia and a Graduate Member of the Institute of Company Directors.
Michael Muhling has over two decades of experience in the resources, including 15 years in senior roles with ASX-listed companies. He is a fellow of CPA Australia, The Chartered Governance Institute, and the Governance Institute of Australia.
John Dugdale is a geologist with over 35 years of experience in the discovery and development of graphite, lithium, gold, nickel and copper projects. His corporate experience includes serving as a director and CEO of several junior resource companies focused on nickel-cobalt, graphite and copper-gold projects. Additionally, he has experience in funds management with Lion Selection Group.
Chris Ramsay is a geologist and project manager with over 25 years of experience in the global mining industry. He has been involved in exploration, mine development and operations for mining projects in Australasia, Southeast Asia, and parts of Africa and North America.
Michael Scivolo has extensive accounting and taxation experience for corporate and non-corporate entities. He was a partner/director at a CPA firm until 2011 and has since been consulting in accounting and taxation. Scivolo is on the boards of several ASX-listed mining companies, including Sabre Resources, Golden Deeps and Tennant Minerals Ltd.
Alexander Biggs has over 20 years of experience in the mining and engineering sector. During his career, he has been involved in various activities, including operations, consulting, finance and capital raising. He is currently the managing director of Lightning Minerals (ASX) and was previously the managing director of Critical Resources (ASX:CRR). Biggs is a member of the Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and a graduate of the Western Australian School of Mines.
Rachelle Domansky is an ESG specialist and a consulting psychologist for businesses, governments and educational institutions in the Asia-Pacific region. In addition to Metals Australia, Rachelle holds non-executive board positions at Quebec Lithium and Access Plus WA Deaf.
Basil Conti has been associated with the mining industry for over 25 years. He is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants Australia & NZ and was a partner/director of a chartered accounting firm in West Perth until 2015.
Visit Metals Australia Limited (ASX: MLS) at Booth #2333 at the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada's (PDAC) Convention at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre (MTCC) from Sunday, March 2 to Wednesday, March 5, 2025.
About Metals Australia Limited
Metals Australia Ltd has a proven track record of Critical Minerals and metals discovery and has a quality portfolio of advanced exploration and pre-development projects in the highly endowed and well-established mining jurisdictions of Quebec, Canada; Western Australia and the Northern Territory of Australia.
The Company is focused on the exploration and development of its flagship Lac Carheil high-grade flake-graphite project in Quebec - a high-quality project which is well placed for the future delivery of premium, battery-grade graphite to the North American lithium-ion/EV battery market, and other flake-graphite products. An extensive drilling program to expand the project Mineral Resource and already commenced prefeasibility study work are both expected to be completed during 2025.
Metals Australia is also advancing its Gold, Base Metals, and lithium exploration projects in the world-class James Bay region of Quebec at the Corvette River Project. The Company has identified 3 gold mineralised corridors – as well as lithium-bearing pegmatites immediately along strike from Patriot Battery Metals' world-class lithium pegmatite discoveries. Further exploration work to advance the gold projects is also anticipated in 2025.
About PDAC
The World's Premier Mineral Exploration & Mining Convention is the leading convention for people, governments, companies and organizations connected to mineral exploration. In addition to meeting more than 1,100 exhibitors, 2,500 investors and 26,000 attendees in person in 2024, participants could also attend programming, courses and networking events.
The annual convention is held in Toronto, Canada. It has grown in size, stature and influence since it began in 1932 and today is the event of choice for the world's mineral industry.
For more information and/or to register for the conference please visit: https://www.pdac.ca/convention.
We look forward to seeing you there.
For further information:
Metals Australia Limited
Mr Paul Ferguson
+61 8 9481 7833
investors@metalsaustralia.com.au
https://metalsaustralia.com.au/
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Chariot Corporation presents a unique value proposition for seasoned investors, with its strategic ownership of the largest land package for lithium exploration in the US and a portfolio of non-core assets providing significant revenue opportunities.
Chariot Corporation (ASX:CC9) is the largest landholder for lithium exploration in the US. It has a strategy to target both hardrock lithium in Wyoming and claystone lithium in Nevada and Oregon. The flagship Black Mountain project in Wyoming has shown significant mineralization with grades of up to 6.68 percent Li2O from rock chip samples. Chariot’s six other hard rock projects in Wyoming span 443 claims covering 3,585 hectares.
The second flagship project, Resurgent, has the second largest land position in the McDermitt Caldera, which hosts the two largest lithium resources discovered to date (Thacker Pass with 44.5 million tons (Mt) lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) and McDermitt at 21.5 Mt LCE). The recent $955-million investment in Thacker Pass by General Motors indicates interest from automakers looking to secure a supply of battery raw materials. The McDermitt Caldera’s size and scale potential present an opportunity for Automotive OEMs, battery manufacturers and others to obtain large-scale supply to meet their growth plans.
As the world's demand for lithium continues to grow, Chariot's exploration and development efforts in the US are well-timed and offer investors exposure to the rapidly growing lithium market.
The company believes its two core projects, Black Mountain and Resurgent, represent early, prospective lithium opportunities in the United States. Chariot has completed its phase 1 drill program at the Black Mountain project consisting of nine shallow holes, drilled from a total of 1,132 metres. Phase 2 drilling has commenced, which includes up to 18 drill holes targeting a high-grade spodumene resource to support the establishment of a pilot mine.
Chariot Corporation announced a revised strategy for the Black Mountain hard rock lithium project to establish a small-scale “pilot mine”. Chariot aims to supply spodumene concentrate to several lithium hydroxide refineries under construction in the southwestern United States. Strategically located in Wyoming, Chariot can leverage Wyoming’s small-mine permit system to provide short-term cash flow and potentially optimize the development of larger-scale mining operations in the future.
Chariot boasts a world-class team with strong track records in mining, exploration and the financial services sectors. The management has significant corporate and investment banking experience. CEO, Shanthar Pathmanathan was an oil and investment banker with Macquarie and Deutsche Bank. On the geological side, Neil Stuart who is a non-executive director is a lithium industry veteran having previously founded Orocobre Ltd (which merged with Galaxy Resources and later with Livent) to form Arcadium Lithium, one of the largest lithium producers in the world which has recently been acquired by Rio Tinto. The exploration team is led by Dr. Edward Max Baker, a geologist with over 40 years of experience and several discoveries. He was the chief geologist at Newcrest Mining, MIM Holdings, Rennison Goldfields and Mount Isa Mines. The collective experience of the management team, from investment banking (with fundraising and M&A experience) to resource discoveries, will be useful in advancing the company’s core projects.
The Black Mountain project is Chariot’s flagship hard rock lithium project located in Natrona County, approximately midway between Casper and Riverton, Wyoming. Chariot initially held a 91.9 percent stake in the project with 134 mining claims covering 878 hectares. In 2024, the company expanded the project with 218 contiguous claims resulting in a 206 percent increase in project tenure area. Black Mountain now comprises 352 claims covering 2,686 hectares of tenure which subsequently increased Chariot's ownership interests in its Wyoming lithium portfolio to 93.9 percent.
The project is well-serviced by existing roads and infrastructure. The claim area was acquired via claim staking of public land administered by the US Bureau of Land Management.
The project features large pegmatite outcrops at the surface with spodumene and tantalum mineralisation. Surface rock chip samples returned assays of up to 6.38 percent lithium oxide.
Black Mountain may represent a significant hard rock lithium opportunity in a tier-1 mining jurisdiction in the US. The asset features an excellent combination of geological factors, and a supportive regulatory regime and is located in a largely unpopulated part of Wyoming.
In connection to the company’s shift to establishing a pilot mine, the following factors relating to the Black Mountain Project render it particularly suitable for this goal:
The Resurgent project is a claystone-hosted lithium project located in the McDermitt Caldera in Oregon and Nevada. The company owns a 79.4 percent stake in this project. The Resurgent project comprises 1,450 claims covering 12,128 hectares and is further subdivided into two principal claim areas, identified as ‘Resurgent North’ and ‘Resurgent East.’ Chariot has the second-largest land position in the McDermitt Caldera, which hosts two of the largest lithium mineral resources in North America, with a combined mineral resource estimate of over 40 Mt LCE - Thacker Pass at 19.1 Mt LCE and McDermitt at 21.5 Mt LCE.
The Resurgent North project targets the same sedimentary units that host Jindalee Resources' (ASX:JRL) McDermitt project with a mineral resource estimate of 21.5 Mt LCE. A surface sampling campaign at Resurgent North conducted in 2021 involving 289 samples returned values as high as 3,865 ppm lithium (over three times typical lithium claystone MRE cut-off grade). Of the 289 samples, 70 samples returned values greater than 100 ppm lithium, 20 samples returned values greater than 1,000 ppm lithium and 10 samples returned values greater than 2,000 ppm lithium.
The Resurgent East project targets the same sedimentary units that host Lithium Americas’ (NYSE:LAC) Thacker Pass lithium deposit (MRE at 19.1 Mt LCE). The similarity in geological characteristics with the two largest lithium deposits in the US further validates the potential for a large-scale high-grade lithium discovery at Resurgent.
Besides the two core projects, the company has a pipeline of six lithium exploration projects comprising 443 claims and covering 3,585 hectares. Each of them is described below:
Chariot has been actively focused on creating value via divestment of selected lithium assets in its portfolio, which include the following assets: Lithic & Mustang (ownership 21.4 percent) and the WA Lithium portfolio (Chariot was the 100 percent owner of this property prior to the sale to St George Mining Ltd). In addition, Chariot through its interest in Mustang Lithium has exposure to the Horizon and Halo claystone lithium projects in Nevada, USA. Both projects have completed drilling campaigns and Horizon announced a resource of 1.3 million tonnes LCE and 8.8 million tonnes LCE inferred. These divestments and interests have the potential to generate more gross proceeds (cash and stock-based consideration) for Chariot in addition to future royalty payments.
The company has identified four more projects for divestment: Lida project (Nevada), Amargosa project (Nevada), Nyamukono project (Zimbabwe), and Mardabilla project (Western Australia).
Shanthar Pathmanathan has 14 years of investment banking experience in the metals and mining, oil and gas and chemicals sectors. He was the CEO and managing director of Lithium Consolidated, an ASX-listed company, which had one of the largest portfolios of hard rock lithium exploration assets, globally. Before that, he held various investment roles with Deutsche Bank and Macquarie Group. He has a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Western Australia.
Frederick Forni is a senior finance professional with over 25 years of investment banking experience. He was a former senior managing director of Macquarie Holdings (USA) and held non-executive director roles with numerous Macquarie Group entities and GLI Finance. He holds a B.A. in economics from Connecticut College, a J.D., awarded cum laude, from Georgetown University Law Center and an LL.M. in taxation from New York University Law School.
Neil Stuart is an exploration geologist with over 40 years' of experience and is a member of The Australian Institute of Geoscientists and a Fellow of The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. He was a founding director of Orocobre Limited, now Alkem (ASX:AKE). He has considerable experience across several commodities and was heavily involved in project delineation and acquisition in Australia, Mexico and Argentina. Over the last 20 years, he was involved with the exploration and commercial development of lithium projects. Stuart is on the board of numerous ASX-listed companies and is a graduate of the University of Melbourne (BSc.) and James Cook University (MSc.).
Dr. Edward Max Baker is a Ph.D. geologist and a fellow of AusIMM. Baker has over 40 years of experience and has made several discoveries. Baker was chief geologist for Newcrest Mining, MIM Holdings, Rennison Goldfields and Mount Isa Mines. Baker was co-founder and previously a vice-president of exploration at New York Stock Exchange-listed Integra Resources (NYSE:ITRG).
Ramesh Chakrapani has over 20 years of experience in the investment banking and alternative asset investing space. Of which, over 15 years were spent at The Blackstone Group where he was a managing director and a member of the Hedge Fund Solutions Special Situations Investing Group. Chakrapani has invested across a diverse set of industries, asset classes, geographies and liquidity profiles, and has represented The Blackstone Group on the boards of selected investments. He has a B.A. from Yale University.
David Bethke is an exploration geologist with 6 years of experience working primarily in the Mountain West and Alaska regions of the United States, specializing in both gold and lithium deposits. During his career, he has worked closely with companies such as Jindalee and United Lithium to explore, sample, drill, and map lithium deposits hosted in both hard rock and claystone. In Alaska, he has worked in production for multiple well-known gold mining companies, including Coeur Mining and Northern Star Resources. David graduated cum laude from the University of Idaho with degrees in geology and Spanish.
HIGHLIGHTS
Phase I will see the project go into production at Pad #1 using a commercial-scale Direct Lithium Extraction (“DLE”) unit capable of producing 150 Tonnes Per Annum (“TPA”) Lithium Carbonate Equivalent (“LCE”). The lithium produced will be used to de-risk end market opportunities where battery-grade samples are currently being tested by interested groups in Asia. Phase I will process brine at a rate of approximately 1,000m3 per day. It is critical to process raw brine at this commercial scale to de-risk the temperature, pressure and chemical constituents of the brine while feeding a commercial scale DLE unit 24 hours per day, 7 days a week. A video rendering of Phase I at Pad #1 has been prepared and can be viewed here: https://youtu.be/mUNExsUBjfo
This will represent one of the world's largest DLE facilities and provide the guidance required to scale up production cost-effectively across the Prairie Project shortly thereafter. Upon commissioning and operating at this scale, the Company will have significantly de-risked the process and proceed to Phase II.
Phase II will see the immediate expansion of production on Pad #1. Phase II expansion will highlight the benefits of modularised scale-up as additional commercial-scale DLE units will be rapidly deployed. Additional wells will also be drilled to maximise production from Pad #1.
Phase III will see the replication of the wells and facility at Pad #1, applied to Pad #2, Pad #3 and additional Pads that are currently being identified.
Figure 1: Rendering of site layout and facility for Phase I at Pad #1
Arizona Lithium Managing Director, Paul Lloyd, commented:“We are excited to share additional details about our plans for the Prairie Project. In 2023, a PFS was released that highlighted lithium production across three pad locations from the Prairie Project. In 2024, we partnered with three landowners to secure the three pad locations and immediately went to work permitting and clearing the ground for the pads. A major drilling program was then executed across those three pads, which significantly de-risked the project and put us in a position to continue development toward production. 2025 will be a year of facility construction and commissioning Phase I at Pad #1. Our phased development plan clearly articulates how we will continue to de-risk and develop the project. Modularisation allows rapid and cost-effective scale-up to increase production in Phase II and III.”
About the Prairie Lithium Project
AZL’s Prairie Lithium Project is located in the Williston Basin of Saskatchewan, Canada. Located in one of the world’s top mining friendly jurisdictions, the project has easy access to key infrastructure including electricity, natural gas, fresh water, paved highways, and railroads. The project also aims to have strong environmental credentials, with Arizona Lithium targeting to use less freshwater, land and waste, aligning with the Company’s sustainable approach to lithium development.
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This article includes content from Arizona Lithium, 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.