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Russell Fryer on Critical Metals PLC’s Strategic Moves in the DRC and Global Expansion Plans

In a recent InvestorNews interview, host Brandon Colwell spoke with Russell Fryer, the Executive Director of Critical Metals PLC (LSE: CRTM), about the recent ‘transformational’ developments in their critical mineral operations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (“DRC”). In addition to signing an offtake agreement for a minimum of 20,000 tons of copper oxide ore, Russell said that Critical Minerals has also secured a hydrometallurgical plant for producing a finished product.

Located less than 100 kilometers from the Molulu project, Russell said that the hydrometallurgical plant has the capacity to produce substantial amounts of copper cathode and cobalt hydroxide. With plans to grow production at the plant, Russell discusses how they are positioned to be a mid-tier player in the metals and mining industry.

Fryer emphasized that controlling downstream production and finished goods is key to competing in the global market. With the new processing capabilities, the company is well-positioned to serve the growing demand for copper cathode and cobalt hydroxide, particularly in the electric vehicle market.

Looking ahead, Critical Metals aims to expand its presence in the copper, cobalt, tantalum, tungsten, and niobium sectors. The company has been actively conducting due diligence on several mines in various countries, with the goal of operating five mines in five different jurisdictions.

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About Critical Metals PLC 

Critical Metals PLC has acquired a controlling 100% stake in Madini Occidental Limited, which holds an indirect 70% interest in the Molulu copper/cobalt project, a producing asset in the Katangan Copperbelt in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The Company will continue to identify future assets that are in line with its stated acquisition objective of low CAPEX and OPEX brown-field projects with near-term production and cash-flow, whilst concentrating on minerals that have strategic importance to future economic growth thereby generating significant value for shareholders.

To know more about Critical Metals Plc, click here

Disclaimer: Critical Metals Plc is an advertorial member of InvestorNews Inc.

This interview, which was produced by InvestorNews Inc. (“InvestorNews”), does not contain, nor does it purport to contain, a summary of all material information concerning the Company, including important disclosure and risk factors associated with the Company, its business and an investment in its securities. InvestorNews offers no representations or warranties that any of the information contained in this interview is accurate or complete.

This interview and any transcriptions or reproductions thereof (collectively, this “presentation”) does not constitute, or form part of, any offer or invitation to sell or issue, or any solicitation of any offer to subscribe for or purchase any securities in the Company. The information in this presentation is provided for informational purposes only and may be subject to updating, completion or revision, and except as may be required by applicable securities laws, the Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update any information herein. This presentation may contain “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and assumptions of the management of the Company as of the date made. They are inherently susceptible to uncertainty and other factors that could cause actual events/results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements. Additional risks and uncertainties, including those that the Company does not know about now or that it currently deems immaterial, may also adversely affect the Company’s business or any investment therein.

Any projections given are principally intended for use as objectives and are not intended, and should not be taken, as assurances that the projected results will be obtained by the Company. The assumptions used may not prove to be accurate and a potential decline in the Company’s financial condition or results of operations may negatively impact the value of its securities. This presentation should not be considered as the giving of investment advice by the Company or any of its directors, officers, agents, employees or advisors. Each person to whom this presentation is made available must make its own independent assessment of the Company after making such investigations and taking such advice as may be deemed necessary. Prospective investors are urged to review the Company’s profile on SedarPlus.ca and to carry out independent investigations in order to determine their interest in investing in the Company.




Can the Global Automotive Industry Source Enough Critical Minerals to Meet EV Production by 2030?

American President, Joe Biden, has decreed, and the U.S. Congress has mandated, that, by 2030, 50% of new domestic American OEM automotive production must be of electric vehicles (EVs). Further, the U.S. government now requires by law that, by 2028, for a new EV purchaser to receive a tax credit of up to $12,500, then 80% of the vehicle’s components must have been made in the United States from raw materials produced and processed in the United States.

American OEM automakers are losing money hand-over-fist on making and selling EVs. Ironically, it is their profits from internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles that are keeping them afloat. Without subsidies, also known as “tax credits,” no one could continue to make and sell EVs. And, quite frankly, without ICEs, Tesla could not afford to be in the EV business. The supply chains for universal automotive components used both by ICEs and EVs could not exist without the scale and sales of the ICE industry.

Sourcing Critical Minerals for EV production

I think that the idealogues, both elected and unelected, in North America and Europe need to answer some questions. Today I am asking, “How does the global non-Chinese OEM automotive industry plan to source enough critical minerals and metals, annually, to meet government-mandated, not market-driven goals for the production of EVs by 2030?

In the following discussion, I’m going to limit myself to the critical minerals and materials needed for the production of EVs just in the United States. Keep in mind that American domestic OEM automotive production is just 10% of the global annual total production.

The domestic American OEM automotive assembly industry most of which is owned and operated by foreign-owned manufacturers is building today, in North America, at least nine new factories to construct lithium-ion batteries for EVs. In addition, a half dozen EV drive train factories and a dozen assembly plants will be built or converted to pure EV production by the end of this decade.

Calculating the amount of Critical Minerals needed

The figures below are averages used in a variety of lithium-ion types. The only constants are for lithium and graphite, which are calculated for a 100 kWh Tesla battery no matter what the cathode chemistry.

The figures for material usage for rare earth permanent magnets are for one drive motor. American cars typically use two.

For the battery:

Material/Metal Usage per BEV For 7,500,000 EVs
Lithium (no matter which chemistry) 6-8 kg (measured as metal) 45-60,000 metric tonnes
Nickel 40 kg 300,000 metric tonnes
Cobalt  12.5 kg 93,750 metric tonnes
Manganese 24.5 kg 183,750 metric tonnes
Copper 53 kg 397,500 metric tonnes
Graphite 66 kg 495,000 metric tonnes

For the drive motor and the 25 accessory micro-motors:

Neodymium / praseodymium  (75:25 ) 1.5 kg 56,250 metric tonnes
Dysprosium 0.05 kg 562 metric tonnes
Terbium 0.01 kg 112 metric tonnes
Gallium tbd

Note that the amounts above are annual needs for 50% of projected American domestic production using a production number baseline of 15,000,000 vehicles per year, which is more than 2022 production and sales but far less than the 21st-century average.

The material usage per vehicle comes from the most recent estimates of the International Energy Association (“IEA”).

Finally, note that the amount of lithium required, up to 60,000 tonnes, measured as metal, is equal to 360,000 tonnes, measured as lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE), which is more than half of the global production of LCE in 2022!

Assuming that 50% of global OEM automotive production in 2030 will be EVs, you need to multiply the above demand numbers each by a factor of between 5 and 10 just to assume that the total global production of vehicles remains the same in 2030 as today, about 100,000,000 vehicles per year.

The amount of lithium necessary for enough stationary storage to manage a world totally converted away from fossil fuels is estimated to be 3.5 times as much as is necessary for the conversion of the global automotive fleet, so you need to add that demand to the above totals. I do not know how much of the world’s energy production in 2030 will be from non-fossil fuels, but even if it is just 20% of the total the above demand numbers would double.

The question we need to ask…

The core questions are:

  1. Can the world’s economies divert enough of their total capital and natural resources to effect the above transformation(s)?
  2. Even, if so, are there sufficient resources of the critical minerals and processing capacity for transforming them into end user products to carry out even this percentage of the transformation in just 7 years?, and
  3. Would even the attempt to transform the global energy production economy from fossil-fuels to alternate energy destroy wealth creation and its wide distribution bringing about the decline of the Western standard of living and the destruction of any hope that the developing world has of achieving that standard?  

It’s time to decide if it’s all worth it.




Resource Estimate due soon for Power Nickel’s Ni-Cu-Co-PGE Nisk Project

The search for battery metals in safe locations continues as companies see the tremendous demand curve ahead for these metals to supply the electric vehicle (EV) boom.

Today’s company is Power Nickel Inc. (TSXV: PNPN | OTCQB: CMETF), focused on their Canadian NISK project which contains nickel (Ni), copper (Cu), cobalt (Co), and some platinum group elements (PGE). They also have investments that give exposure to gold and copper projects in Canada and Chile, as well as a royalty agreement. Their projects and interests include the following:

  • NISK nickel sulphide Project (option to acquire 80% from Critical Elements Lithium Corp.). Two tenements blocks located near James Bay in Quebec, Canada.
  • Consolidation Gold & Copper (100% ownership with plans to be spun off) who owns 100% interest in the Golden Ivan Project in British Columbia’s Golden Triangle and also owns 100% interest in three projects in Chile. The Company also owns a 3% Copaquire Royalty on a copper-molybdenum deposit in Chile held by Teck Resources.

The NISK nickel sulphide project

The NISK property is composed of two blocks totaling 90 claims covering an area of 45.9 km2. The Property is currently known for its magmatic nickel-copper sulphide deposits. It holds the NISK-1 Ni-Cu-C0-PGE deposit. NISK has four distinct target areas covering over 7 kilometres of strike length.

The Project has a Historical Resource at the NISK-1 deposit from 2009 (usual cautions apply to historical resources) and Power Nickel is currently working towards completing an updated NI 43-101 compliant mineral resource. Based on the Historical Resource, grades were around 1% nickel, 0.53% copper, 0.06% cobalt, 0.91 g/t palladium, 0.29g/t platinum. The NISK-1 main deposit remains open to the East, West and at depth.

Location map of the NISK Property showing details of the Historical Resource

Source: Power Nickel company presentation

Power Nickel states: “Globally nickel sulphide deposits tend to exist as pods or as a string of pearls with each pearl representing a deposit. We believe this is what we have here at NISK and, with our actual understanding of the Nisk litho-structural setting, we expect a well-planned drill program to help expand beyond our first pearl at Nisk Main to hopefully other pearls located in our project land package…” It continues that “Nisk has four distinct target areas covering over 7 Kilometres of strike length. Our focus this round was on the Nisk Main target. Historically, we know globally these types of deposits typically have multiple pods. We are encouraged by what we see on Nisk Main and feel we can continue to build commercial tonnage there but we are also looking forward to exploring Nisk West and the two wildcat targets in subsequent drilling in Q2.”

The Project has road access and is traversed by the Hydro-Québec power line.

Closer location map view showing road access and power line traversing the Nisk-1 Property

Source: Power Nickel website

Power Nickel did announce their own new recent drill results on March 30, 2022, which included: PN21001 12.4 metres 0.82% Ni, 0.36% Cu, 0.09% Co, 0.69g/t Pd, 0.14g/t Pt from 149 m.

Power Nickel’s CEO Terry Lynch, commented: “These results are another positive indication that Nisk is a very exciting Nickel Sulphate discovery. Our objectives in this initial drill program conducted by Power Nickel were to produce enough drilling to allow us to establish a new NI 43101 compliant resource to confirm and replace the historical resource, and to extend the known Nickel mineralization. We believe we have established the latter and expect to be able to deliver a NI 43101 compliant Mineral Resource Estimate in Q2. Further, these results have made us confident enough to commence execution of an additional fully funded 5,000meter drill program which we would expect to start later in Q2 after breakup.”

Closing remarks

While it is still early days for Power Nickel there are several promising signs for their Nisk Project. Quebec Canada is a premier location, there is road and power access, a poly-metalic deposit in sulphide ore exists with nickel, copper, cobalt, palladium, and platinum, there is a Historical Resource (not to be relied upon), and some good recent drill results. The upcoming Nisk Project NI 43101 compliant Mineral Resource Estimate due in Q2, 2022 is the next milestone to watch out for.




Fueling the GEMC project pipeline of growth stage battery metals

If you are an investor looking for opportunities to participate in the green revolution you have many options to choose from. There are new ETFs popping up weekly that have a variety of themes from EVs, renewable energy, battery materials, and the list goes on….and on. Wherever you decide to start is entirely up to you, but for me, I don’t know that I want to try and pick which technology will rule the day. Personally, I’m not convinced that full battery electric vehicles will ultimately be the answer. I think some sort of fuel cell/battery hybrid vehicle will be the best answer for efficiency and utility. However, with all the momentum behind BEVs and charging stations, etc. I could be completely wrong, even if my thesis is accurate. So rather than try and make a bet on what technology ends up ruling the day, it seems like it would be prudent to take a step back and look at what materials are common to the majority of these technologies. That way it doesn’t matter if my Hybrid Theory (I had to throw in a reference to the debut album of one of my all-time favorite bands – Linkin Park) is valid or not, things like copper, cobalt, lithium, nickel, rare earths, tin and the like will definitely be part of the energy transition to a lower carbon footprint in whatever form it takes.

To that end, today we are going to look at an intriguing company that gives exposure to many of the commodities listed above plus some precious metals sprinkled in, over numerous projects located in safe mining jurisdictions all over the world. And all that with a market cap of just over $5 million. Global Energy Metals Corp. (TSXV: GEMC | OTCQB: GBLEF) (GEMC) has cobalt, copper and nickel projects in Canada, Australia, Norway and the United States. GEMC is investing in, exploring and developing prospective, scalable assets in established mining and processing jurisdictions in close proximity to end-use markets. GEMC is targeting projects with low logistics and processing risks, so that they can be fast tracked to enter the supply chain in this cycle.  The Company is also collaborating with industry peers to strengthen its exposure to these critical commodities and the associated technologies required for a cleaner future.

GEMC currently boasts six projects in varying states of development and ownership share. A quick summary of these are as follows:

Source: GEMC Investor Presentation

As efficient stewards of capital, GEMC is actively negotiating deals to get some of these properties explored using other people’s money. For example, on June 28th the Company signed a Definitive Option Agreement with Metal Bank Limited to commence work program on the Millennium Cobalt-Copper-Gold Project. An initial exploration program at Millennium commenced the first week of July including drilling of up to 4 holes for up to 800m RC drilling of the untested Northern Zone scheduled for early August. With that said, the Company recently raised $1.1 million to enable it to push forward on its own with exploration programs in Nevada and Idaho. In Nevada, GEMC recently expanded the drill program from 1,400 metres (6 to 8 drill holes) to 2,100 metres (9-10 drill holes) to capitalize on having drill contractors onsite at Lovelock so that the company can test historically high-grade copper and cobalt mineralization at Treasure Box. At Lovelock they will focus on making new copper-nickel-cobalt discoveries along newly defined conductors. Additionally, on July 14th GEMC announced a summer exploration program at the Monument Peak Project in Idaho including soil sampling, geological reconnaissance sampling, a drone magnetics survey and photogrammetry.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not implying that an investment in Global Energy Metals is the same as buying a critical materials ETF. But with ample news expected over the next few months, GEMC has a lot of torque and leverage to minerals integral to key technologies of the electric vehicle and energy storage markets. Yes, there is an awful lot of risk involved with junior mining companies. Nevertheless, based on yesterday’s close of $0.19 and only 27 million shares outstanding, the Company has a market cap of $5.1 million. Do your homework and decide how much value you ascribe to the assets Global Energy Metals has assembled.