In a recent InvestorIntel interview, Byron King spoke with Maritz Smith, CEO of Alphamin Resources Corp. (TSXV: AFM) about achieving record fourth quarter EBITDA and production, and about how Alphamin is positioned to become one of the world’s largest low-cost tin producers.

In this InvestorIntel interview, which may also be viewed on YouTube (click here to subscribe to the InvestorIntel Channel), Maritz Smith said that tin is a strategic metal “without which technology cannot exist” and went on to highlight the supply constraints in the tin market because of decades of underinvestment in exploration and development of new tin mines. “Alphamin’s mine is the first major tin mine that has been developed in the last 40 years,” he added. As a producer of 4% of the world’s mined tin, Maritz provided an update on Alphamin’s maiden mineral resource estimate and positive PEA for their Mpama South Mine.

To watch the full interview, click here.

About Alphamin Resources Corp.

“We are developing a project in Central Australia so in terms of political risk we represent a very low-risk jurisdiction. Our process is to mine, develop and process rare earth materials in Central Australia and then export neodymium-praseodymium oxides to the metal and magnet manufacturing industry, which typically sits offshore in places like Japan to a lesser extent Korea, predominantly China. The U.S. is definitely getting a growing interest in this as it is a strategic metal that feeds into high-performance magnets as you have rightly alluded to, which drive electric motors and also a range of defense applications.” States Gavin Lockyer, Managing Director of Arafura Resources Ltd. (ASX: ARU), in an interview with InvestorIntel Corp. CEO Tracy Weslosky.

Tracy Weslosky: I will be honest with you; I am very excited about this interview. I mean, we have a lot going on in the news right now between China and the United States, and now Canada and China. That is making the world look to you for neodymium and praseodymium in Australia. Is that correct or am I jumping to the wrong conclusions?  

Gavin Lockyer: It is starting. We are starting to see some movement in that space. Geopolitical issues typically reflect into an increase in the neodymium-praseodymium prices. We hope to see that in the near future. What we are seeing is that there is a slight increase from North American investors and manufacturers in particular, starting to look up their procurement supply chains to see where are the critical metals being sourced from and what can they do to minimize their risk of supply disruption.

Tracy Weslosky: For those of you out there who may not be familiar with how exciting the magnetic material market actually is, the critical material market is, I am going to ask you Gavin, if you do not mind, just to give us a quick overview and re-review of who Arafura is in this market. 

Gavin Lockyer: Sure. We are developing a project in Central Australia so in terms of political risk we represent a very low-risk jurisdiction. Our process is to mine, develop and process rare earth materials in Central Australia and then export neodymium-praseodymium oxides to the metal and magnet manufacturing industry, which typically sits offshore in places like Japan to a lesser extent Korea, predominantly China. The U.S. is definitely getting a growing interest in this as it is a strategic metal that feeds into high-performance magnets as you have rightly alluded to, which drive electric motors and also a range of defense applications.

Tracy Weslosky: Gavin what you have just alluded to, we did a piece about how the U.S. Defense law has market eyeing raw materials sources in Australia. Have you seen any additional phone calls from any military sources, of course, here in the last month? What can you talk about?

Gavin Lockyer: There is not a lot I can talk about. What I can say is that there is certainly interest coming from both sides of the Pacific to be honest. The Australian government obviously has made a range of public announcements in which it endorses Australian resource and critical metals and materials for its allies and, of course, the U.S. is an important ally, as is Canada. We would expect, while we have had some discussions at Canberra and at Washington level, what I would really like to see is some of those industries that are reliant on the NdPr for their businesses actually start to come and talk to us a little bit more in a little bit more meaningful capacity because as you are well aware Tracy, the NdPr market is not a commodity market. There is not a LME on which it is traded and so for us to get our projects up and running we need offtake contracts which are defendable or are bankable basically…to access the complete interview, click here

Disclaimer: Arafura Resources Ltd. is an advertorial member of InvestorIntel Corp.

“We are dealing in a sector that is really starting to grow in the magnet space. Of course our rare earths go into magnets. With all of the changes that are going on in the technology space, we are very well positioned to be able to feed that particular sector. As you know we are completing our definitive feasibility study. That will be out in the next couple of months. I guess investors would really start to understand the value proposition that Arafura offers.” States Richard Brescianini, General Manager of Exploration & Development at Arafura Resources Ltd. (ASX: ARU), in an interview with InvestorIntel Corp. CEO Tracy Weslosky.

Tracy Weslosky: Richard this is extremely timely that we are speaking to you with all of the current conflict between the U.S. and China and now with the Chinese conflict with the Canadians, everyone is looking to Australia for magnet metals. Would you agree? 

Richard Brescianini: I would agree. We are a very, very stable country. We have been saying that for many, many years now. I guess what we are seeing play out in the geopolitical sphere really begins to reinforce that fact. 

Tracy Weslosky: We just did a piece actually on how the U.S. Defense law has everyone also looking at Australia. We have got investors around the world looking at you. Would you not say now is the time to be looking at a company like Arafura? 

Richard Brescianini: I think it is. We are dealing in a sector that is really starting to grow in the magnet space. Of course our rare earths go into magnets. With all of the changes that are going on in the technology space, we are very well positioned to be able to feed that particular sector. As you know we are completing our definitive feasibility study. That will be out in the next couple of months. I guess investors would really start to understand the value proposition that Arafura offers.

Tracy Weslosky: For those of you out there in InvestorIntel land and you are going, what are these rare earths? What are these metal magnets? I will tell you what they are. They are currently controlled by the Chinese and especially with the processing aspect. Of course, Arafura is well on your way with your processing techniques. Is that correct?

Richard Brescianini: That is correct. Just recently we put a statement out there that told the market that our entire processing operation will be located in Australia. We are not mucking about with having it in multiple countries or anything like that. We really want to be able to focus our operations in Australia for stability purposes. I guess your hearers or your listeners will know about some of the things that are playing out in Malaysia right now, which really reinforces our decision to keep it all in Australia…..to access the complete interview, click here

Disclaimer: Arafura Resources Ltd. is an advertorial member of InvestorIntel Corp.

June 26, 2018 – “China controls about 56% of the vanadium in the world. The other two big players are Russia and South Africa. As a result, of course, it has been deemed as a strategic metal. The United States, for example, imports about 99% of its vanadium. It is a key metal in construction. It is a key metal in the aerospace industry. Really this is where our project is poised to basically be the only player in the United States for vanadium supply.” states Danniel Oosterman, Vice President of Exploration at Prophecy Development Corp. (TSX: PCY | OTCQX: PRPCF), in an interview with InvestorIntel Corp. CEO Tracy Weslosky.

Tracy Weslosky: Vanadium is one of those critical materials with regards to a lot of sustainability issues that are currently happening today that very few people understand. Would you mind giving us kind of an introduction to vanadium?

Danniel Oosterman: Vanadium, even though it is not widely known about, it is widely used and widely applied in a number of applications. The principle application is actually steel. 92% of vanadium used in the world is used in steel. A small percentage added to steel actually doubles the strength and lightens it by 30%. As such it is ideal for, not only, rebar in construction and steel for skyscraper and such, but actually it is very useful in the aerospace industry as well.

Tracy Weslosky: Of course, we cannot forget the electric vehicles and the battery storage sector. 

Danniel Oosterman: The battery space is a growing space, lots of excitement. You have a lot of big players, key players, like Robert Friedland, now are paying attention to it. That really puts us in a position where we with our project may be able to access every single one of these aspects, aerospace, chemical industry, steel industry, with our project in Nevada.

Tracy Weslosky: Respectfully, to Robert Friedland, which we all know in the resource sector, we have major players, mainstream players, like Elon Musk, that are drawing attention to the requirements for vanadium in their batteries. Give us a little bit of an overview of vanadium. We know that the Chinese control 90% of the rare earth and 80% of the graphite. What do the Chinese control of vanadium?

Danniel Oosterman: Well, Tracy, China controls about 56% of the vanadium in the world. The other two big players are Russia and South Africa. As a result, of course, it has been deemed as a strategic metal. The United States, for example, imports about 99% of its vanadium. It is a key metal in construction. It is a key metal in the aerospace industry. Really this is where our project is poised to basically be the only player in the United States for vanadium supply for the United States. That really just puts our project in an advanced position. If you look at the political landscape in the United States, with Donald Trump deregulating a lot of things, he recognizes a lot of strategic value of certain metals. Principle of that, and we have had discussions with the Federal government in the United States regarding this, our project in particular is a high priority project because vanadium is considered one of these critical metals in the strategic sense that Trump has raised concern. As such we will essentially anticipate that we would move to the front of the queue in terms of our project going ahead and eventually put it into production…to access the complete interview, click here

Disclaimer: Prophecy Development Corp. is an advertorial member of InvestorIntel Corp.