In a recent InvestorNews interview with host Tracy Weslosky, Auxico Resources Canada Inc.’s (CSE: AUAG | OTCQB: AUXIF) Chairman Mark Billings shared exciting developments regarding the company’s critical minerals projects in Bolivia and Colombia.

Mark discussed the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed with Empresa Minera El Benton S.R.L., which holds mining rights to the El Benton Mine in Bolivia. This past-producing mine, with all the necessary licenses in place, offers a unique opportunity for near-term cash flow. Notably, the property contains exceptionally high-grades of niobium and tantalum, in addition to lithium and rare earths, making it a strategic asset for the green revolution.

Transitioning to Colombia, Billings discussed their recent achievement of securing mining title certificate for Minastyc Project and their goal of launching small-scale production. Mark said that the Minastyc Project, rich in tin, promises a straightforward process of producing concentrates. With permits allowing them to export up to 300 metric tons of tin concentrates per month, Mark said that the company’s immediate focus is on production.

The interview also touched on Auxico’s involvement with Central America Nickel Inc. (CAN), revealing their shared interests and goals in critical minerals. Discussing Auxico’s joint venture with CAN to export rare earth concentrates from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Mark explains how CAN’s investments in Auxico bolster Auxico’s growth prospects.

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About Auxico Resources Canada Inc.

Auxico Resources Canada Inc. (“Auxico”) is a Canadian company that was founded in 2014 and based in Montreal, trading on the Canadian Stock Exchange (CSE) under symbol AUAG and on the OTCQB Market under symbol AUXIF. Auxico is engaged in the acquisition, exploration and development of mineral properties in Colombia, Brazil, Mexico, Bolivia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

To know more about Auxico Resources Canada Inc., click here

Disclaimer: Auxico Resources Canada Inc. 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.

Massive deposits of rare earths – the key component in electric vehicle production, permanent magnets, alternative energy and other green technologies – are located in Africa and South America that may be otherwise overlooked. Auxico Resources Canada Inc. (CSE: AUAG) is a Canadian company specializing in producing rare and critical minerals. Auxico is poised to be one of the largest suppliers of these materials outside of China. Auxico is the exclusive trade agent for rare earth concentrates from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). In addition, Auxico also has joint ventures with companies or owns mineral rights in Colombia, Bolivia, and Brazil. Overall, the company has access to nearly 4 million tonnes of these minerals, making it a significant player in the global market.

This week Auxico announced a change in executive leadership and the addition of a new Board member. Frederick Kozak took over as president and Chief Executive Officer of Auxico as of September 6th. Kozak was previously the president of Appia Rare Earths & Uranium Corp. (CSE: API | OTCQX: APAAF), which on his departure announced that Appia CEO Tom Drivas will assume the role of interim president pending the appointment of a new president.

Pierre Gauthier had led Auxico as CEO and Executive Chairman since the company’s inception. Gauthier will remain a key part of the company as a director and remain CEO and Chairman of Central America Nickel. This leadership change announcement took some by surprise, but based on Kozak’s previous experience, it looks like a good fit for Auxico considering its long-term focus on its mineral rights in Colombia, Bolivia, and Brazil. Kozak has a long history and deep understanding of South America’s rare earth industry and capital markets. Early in his career he built a reputation as an analyst of public companies in Colombia and for his regional reports on Colombia, Argentina, and other regions.

Later in his career, as VP of Arrow Exploration Corp, Kozak worked on analyzing and modeling asset potential of oil property acquisitions from an existing producer in Colombia. Kozak also has extensive consulting experience, working with clients from all over the world, including South America. The experience working in capital markets and rare earths should help Auxico navigate the complexities of the rare earths market.

At the same time Auxico also announced that they had appointed Melissa Sanderson, regular InvestorIntel contributor, to their Board of Directors. Sanderson is also a good fit for Auxico’s board of directors. For years she served as a senior diplomat and the Charge d’Affaires at the US Embassy in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo. She also has more than 30 years of experience in mining, business, and government relations. She currently is a Professor of Practice at the Thunderbird School of Global Management in Arizona. As VP International at Freeport-McMoRan she coordinated Freeport’s environmental, social and governmental functions in Peru and Chile, as well as the DRC. Melissa is the recipient of numerous awards, including the U.S. State Department Superior Honor Award and inclusion in the Who’s Who of American Women Bankers. This experience will help Auxico drive operational improvements in both North America and the DRC.

As a recognized expert in ESG and founder of Ethically Sustainable Growth (ESG+), Sanderson can bring her extensive knowledge of local community and government relations to improving operations and sustainability to Auxico as the rare earth industry continues to navigate the complex and changing environmental requirements.

These new leadership positions could have a positive impact on how Auxico manages its extensive operations throughout the world. Kozak and Sanderson bring the extensive operational expertise and rare earth knowledge to Auxico that is needed to capitalize on their assets.

A pleasant surprise is always a nice thing. These days it seems that any time you see the S&P 500 or the Nasdaq in positive territory on the day it’s considered a pleasant surprise. But that’s not what I’m talking about. What I’m referring to is a situation where you are a junior mining company in hot pursuit of a valuable and globally in-demand commodity, like rare earths, and you come across decent grades of gold, platinum and titanium, at surface no less. I believe that is what you call “having your cake and eating it too”, if you are at all familiar with that expression. If that phrase means nothing to you, then let’s stick with a pleasant surprise.

The company that looks like it’s blessed with an abundance of riches is Auxico Resources Canada Inc. (CSE: AUAG), a Canadian company engaged in the acquisition, exploration and development of mineral properties in Colombia, Brazil, Bolivia, Mexico, and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). They are a combination project generator, miner, processor and marketer all rolled up into one, with a focus on the production of critical minerals and high-value metals, including niobium, tantalum, platinum group metals (such as platinum and iridium), and rare earth elements. Additionally, Auxico is the exclusive trade agent for rare earth concentrates from the DRC. The Company owns directly or through joint ventures, mineral rights in Colombia, Bolivia, and Brazil, with access to close to 4 million tonnes of critical minerals and rare earth elements – the largest deposits outside of China.

But today we are going to focus on their Minastyc Property in Vichada, Colombia, where Auxico recently announced the granting of a mining permit (specifically a Work Plan Authorization) from the National Mining Agency of Colombia. This is a very significant development for the Company because Auxico will now be able to move forward with the formal purchase of the Minastyc Property from its current owner. The approval of the Work Plan was the last condition in the purchase agreement. This leaves one step left, a site visit by representatives of Corporinoquia (the Colombian environmental agency), before the Company will be able to move equipment on site, including heavy machinery for bulk sampling and a processing facility, which will enable Auxico to move towards making a production decision for small-scale mining operations.

In the meantime, Auxico has been busy at the Minastyc Property having previously announced a NI 43-101 Technical Evaluation Report on March 28^th of this year with highlights including a 3.2 tonne bulk sample from two locations of the Area 50 pit resulting in a 7.7 kg fine concentrate returning Total Rare Earth Oxides (TREO) grading 68.32% and 65.67% respectively from the two locations. Back in October 2021 the Company reported the discovery of platinum group metals (PGM’s) in samples including Sample 1 with 42.8% titanium, 25.4% niobium, and 8.3% tantalum while Sample 2, found in a different zone on the property, originating from a rock sample containing 30.4% tantalum, 23.3% niobium and 24.5% titanium.

But the fun doesn’t end there. The latest results published by Auxico show gold, platinum, titanium, zirconium and hafnium test results on samples taken from the Area 50, TA Area and two other areas from the Minastyc property. At this point, it’s almost easier to talk about what metal or mineral they don’t have on this property. All joking aside, highlights from the latest fourteen samples, taken from pits in the first metre from surface in these areas, gave an average head grade of 9.5 g/t of gold, and 13.5 g/t of platinum from 8 of the 14 samples that returned grade. Additionally, the Company reported the discovery of 24.5% titanium, 7.8% zirconium, and 2.4 kilograms of hafnium. And if those grades aren’t enough to get your attention, then perhaps the fact that the Company suggests that based on these field observations and from the satellite interpretation, an estimated minimum of 250,000 tonnes of material is represented by this Ferricrete layer in the first metre from surface at Area 50 and the TA area.

All this explains why Auxico is presently coordinating the site visit with Corporinoquia and expects the visit to occur near term. With these kinds of grades literally at surface they could be generating a decent revenue stream in short order to help finance further exploration, a preliminary resource estimate or whatever they determine is the best use of funds.

With a market cap of C$55 million, this isn’t one of those undiscovered companies that provides an almost free option on their exploration. However, with almost every valuable hard rock commodity on the planet concentrated in one spot with pretty impressive grades, any expansion in size could be a boon to shareholders. And I didn’t even touch on the myriad of other interesting opportunities going on at Auxico Resources that you can explore on your own at their website.

There were otherwise unrelated announcements last week, but, with a common purpose, by separate pairs of rare earth juniors: The common purpose was the advancing of the creation of a domestic American rare earth enabled product(s) total supply chain.

In one case the Canadian rare earth Junior miner, Search Minerals Inc. (TSXV: SMY | OTCQB: SHCMF), entered into a non-binding MOU for the future delivery of a rare earth mineral concentrate supply, containing 500 tpa of Neodymium/Praseodymium, with one of its investors, privately owned, USA Rare Earth LLC , which has committed itself to producing commercial tonnages of rare earth permanent magnets in the United States as early as 2022-23. Another announcement was made by the Canadian rare earth junior critical metals’ processor, Ucore Rare Metals Inc. (TSXV: UCU | OTCQX: UURAF | FSE: U9U), which announced that it had entered into an MOU with Australia’s Vital Metals Ltd. (ASX: VML | OTCMKTS: VTMXF ): for a supply of rare earth ore concentrates from Vitals’ already underway mining operations in Canada’s Northwest Territory, to be first processed into a mixed rare earth carbonate in a facility funded by Canada’s Saskatchewan Research Council in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, and then shipped to Ucore’s proposed Strategic Metals (processing) Center in Ketchikan, Alaska, USA, for separation into individual rare earths.

These announcements are indicative of a sea-change in the thinking of an increasing number of non-Chinese junior rare earth companies. In the last rare earth boom from 2007-2012 hundreds of juniors had the same goal, the production and sale of a “mixed con” of rare earths, in other words, of an ore concentrate or a concentrate of mixed rare earth solids prepared by hydrometallurgical treatment of ore concentrates. It was commonly believed at that time that Chinese rare earth separation companies, then the only customers, would pay 65% of the ”basket value,” defined as the market price of separated versions of the rare earths contained in the mixed concentrate. This was magical thinking based on a complete misunderstanding of the value of, and the markets for, either ore concentrates or mixed rare earth concentrates. Even today some juniors still insist that their ore concentrates have a basket value based on the values of finished goods. Chinese separators typically have offered 40% of the basket value, delivered into China for high grade ore concentrates free of elements that interfere with solvent extraction separation of mixed rare earths.

The ”supply chain crisis” has clarified the thinking of many juniors. They realize that their product must have an immediate determinable-price demand and that this demand must be by processors who add enough value, so that they can afford to buy the junior’s product at a price that allows the junior to make a profit. This may seem trivially obvious, but it was blithely overlooked in the 2007-12 rare earth boom.

A new factor has entered the calculus for determining the price of mixed rare earth ore concentrates or of mixed rare earth solids free of both radioactive and of SX interfering contaminants. That factor is any added value governments and industries are willing to pay for non-Chinese, or domestic, materials of these descriptions.

So far, only one non-Chinese vendor has entered the market with mixed rare earth carbonate (solids) free of radioactive and SX interferents. That is America’s Energy Fuels Inc. (NYSE American: UUUU | TSX: EFR),  which is processing non-Chinese monazite ore at its White Mesa, Utah, uranium processing mill. The mixed rare earth carbonate solids are being sold, at a profit to Energy Fuels, to Canada’s Neo Performance Materials Inc. (TSX: NEO | OTCMKTS: NOPMF),  which has them delivered to its rare earth separation facility in Estonia, where the material is separated into individual rare earths for further processing by Neo or its customers into rare earth permanent magnets, phosphors, ceramic additives, and other fine chemicals. The European Union is already well ahead of the USA in organizing a financial facility to underwrite the creation of a European domestic rare earth enabled products total supply chain without Chinese participation at any level.

In the United States and Canada the supply chain issue is downstream of mining, and is manifested in the total lack of commercial facilities for rare earth separation, metal and alloy making, magnet making, and end use manufacturing.

Europe has existing facilities for up to 12,000 tpa of rare earths separation, a thousand tpa of rare earth metals and alloys, and substantial capacity and existing expertise to make rare earth permanent magnets of the most widely used, sintered, type. Further, both the UK and the EU governments have already begun to support the expansion of existing rare earth processors financially.

The United States and Canada should take a lesson from the UK and the EU: Get industrial end users involved from the very beginning. The UK and the EU speak with industrial experts as well as academics and bureaucrats. The difference is really beginning to show.