Stillwater Critical Minerals – More 2022 Exploration Results Returned Building Towards The Resource Update
Michael Rowley, President and CEO of Stillwater Critical Minerals (TSX.V: PGE – OTCQB: PGEZF), joins us to review recent exploration results returned from the 2022 season and the current work going into the upcoming Resource Estimate update to be released this quarter at their flagship Stillwater West Project in Montana. The most recent maiden resource estimate, that incorporated drilling up through 2020 was released in 2021 and contained 1.1 billion lbs of nickel, copper, and cobalt, with an additional 2.4 million ounces of palladium, platinum, and gold. This upcoming resource will incorporate and the further resource delineation from the 14 holes drilled in 2021, in addition to the assays for rhodium were just released to the market today.
We dive further into the parallels between this Project and their neighbors, Sibanye Stillwater, that are currently producing nickel, copper, platinum, palladium, and rhodium at that highest grade PGM mine in the world. Mike makes the point that the mining approach for Stillwater Critical Minerals that is being proposed is more of a bulk mining deposit more akin to the South African Platreef battery metals and platinum group elements mines and development projects found on the northern limb of the Bushveld Igneous Complex.
Next we discuss the exploration work successfully completed in 2022 at the Pine Target, which is an additional gold target returning high-grade gold, that is 2kms away and currently not one of the 5 deposit areas presently included in the resource estimate, but that more drilling will be focused here in 2023 to keep delineating this additional target area. The focus of the exploration team at present is continuing to expand the high grade areas of the 9km strike length, and for better understanding the geological structural controls, with a wealth of potential targets for future drilling in that larger context for the 2023 exploration season.
We wrap up by discussing the new partnership the Company has with Cornell University, which was highlighted in a recent article in the Cornell Cronicle earlier today, where Greeshma Gadikota, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering in Cornell Engineering, will receive $650,000 of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) $2.4 million grant from the federal Advanced Research Projects Agency. The focus of the research, in partnership with Stillwater Critical Minerals, will be to develop ways to simultaneously recover green-energy critical metals during mining, and used different carbon sequestration techniques in the process.
If you have any questions for Mike regarding Stillwater Critical Minerals, then please email us at either Fleck@kereport.com or Shad@kereport.com.
In full disclosure, Shad is a shareholder of Stillwater Critical Minerals.
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+1 DT. Agreed. Those that snooze will lose.
We discussed later in the interview above with Mike, the partnership between Stillwater Critical Minerals and Cornell University. I’ll copy a few stanzas below since it is quite topical, but he whole article is worth reading.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
Cornell To Help Boost US Supply Of Critical Energy Minerals
By Blaine Friedlander – Cornell Chronicle – January 18, 2023
“A Cornell professor will play a major role in a new federally funded project to increase the domestic supply of critical minerals needed to boost green energy.”
“Greeshma Gadikota, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering in Cornell Engineering, and the Croll Sesquicentennial Fellow, will receive $650,000 of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) $2.4 million grant from the federal Advanced Research Projects Agency.”
“She’ll use these funds to develop ways to simultaneously recover green-energy critical metals during mining, while converting remnant magnesium and calcium content into solid carbonates using supercritical carbon dioxide from anthropogenic sources.”
“Critical minerals such as copper, cobalt, lithium and nickel are essential to the development of wind turbines, smart electronics and improves electric cars, but the minerals must still be mined.”
“Stillwater Critical Minerals, one of Gadikota’s industrial collaborators, is keen to integrate energy critical mining with carbon management technologies such as those developed through this research effort.”
https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2023/01/cornell-help-boost-us-supply-critical-energy-minerals
This was a very topical interview, and synchronistic with the one we had with Doc Jones earlier in the week, where he was discussing all the tailwinds at the backs of Critical Minerals companies, including government money and funding for research and development.
Then boom! Stillwater Critical Minerals is tapped to receive some of those funds through their partnership with Cornell Engineering.
Nickel, Copper, Cobalt, PGMs, PMs…. gotta love it.
2023 Top 10 Watch List
Paul Wong – Sprott – Monday, January 9, 2023
“We believe the global clean energy transition will grow more urgent as energy markets continue re-ordering and energy security becomes synonymous with national security. The signposts point to a commodity-intensive, inflationary and capital-intensive decade where energy transition materials and precious metals will become far more valued than in the prior market regime.”
The Top 10 Things We Think Investors Should Watch In 2023:
#1. De-Globalization and the Great De-Moderation
#2. Energy Markets are Realigning as Oil/Energy Trade Flows are Re-Ordered
#3. An Existential Commodity Supercycle as Competition for Commodities Increases
#4. Uranium: Clean Energy That Offers Secure Power Generation and Enhances National Security
#5. Copper: Structural Supply Deficit and Demand Shock
#6. Lithium: Battery TINA (There Is No Alternative)
#7. Energy Transition Metals Continue to Outperform
#8. Gold Bullion, Setting Up to Test the Upside in 2023
#9. Silver: Oversold Secular Low
#10. Gold Miners, Escape from Hyper Correlations
“We break up our Top 10 Watch List into three categories: A) Global Macroeconomic Changes; B) Growing Demand for Energy Transition Materials; and C) The Important Role of Precious Metals.”
https://sprott.com/insights/sprott-monthly-report-2023-top-10-watch-list/
The mining business is a rapacious industry, you either eat or get eaten and Sibanye doesn’t realize that to be successful you must devour. Sibanye seems to think that no one is looking at them, but they have a lot of valuable assets for the new economy, and they have a target on their back. Sibanye has not paid attention to Stillwater, but they seem to be interested in assets that aren’t their core holdings. I think they are making a big mistake and that for me is because their management can’t see the obvious, that makes them vulnerable. We see this all the time and then a takeover bid is launched. What more can I say, if it looks like a duck and it quacks like a duck it is a DUCK! Especially when your neighbor has everything that would enhance your company, and it is selling for next to nothing. DT
That’s a very cogent point DT. Mike has mentioned in a few prior interview that they have been in discussions sharing data and non-disclosure agreements with a number of the big boy mining companies, and it is still very possible that another company swoops in to acquire Stillwater Critical Minerals after they update their resource estimate in Q1 and embark on 2023’s bigger drill program for the balance of the year, building toward yet another resource estimate for next year.
Sibanye is still the natural suitor, but if PGE keeps demonstrating how robust this deposit is growing to become at Stillwater West, then other base metals companies may decide it is worth the candle for that future production to be under their banners instead. Bottom line, all indications are that this is going to be a very critical deposit for North American strategic battery metals and electric metals, and someone is going to buy it and make it into a producing mine.
Think about this potential: Ivanhoe is a key developer and producer of these same metals (nickel, copper, platinum, palladium, rhodium, cobalt, gold…), and they already have experience mining in a similar method in South Africa in the Bushveld complex, and since 2 of their prior employees are now with Stillwater Critical Minerals, then it would not surprise me at all to see Ivanhoe take over PGE down the road. There are also other base metals behemoths that may want this asset in their stable.
I say bring on the bidding war in late 2024…. however, I want to see PGE get rerated higher based on the resources they have in the ground and any future economics they wrap around the project first, before the big boys take a keener interest.
Am I the only one who thinks a major acquiring Stillwater Critical Minerals at this point is a nightmare scenario? It’s trading at 22 cents. Don’t give it away now make one of the big boys pay through the nose for it and duke it out with each other instead. Some kind of investment or joint venture would make sense and be welcome imo but not an outright takeover.
I have never understood the price capping on Group 10. I wouldn’t be surprised if Stillwater assists with price capping to pick up Group 10 at a weak moment. Just a speculation but I sold out 6 months to a year ago because price was range bound for too long under too many market variations, which indicated intervention. Just me . Do your own research best you can..
Thanks Ex, this company can be a real winner. I would be concerned about the capital raise this spring and maybe some poor drill results but neither should be a problem. This Rhodium find should tip the scale in their favour!;-D
PGE, Stillwater Critical Minerals
Flying Nickel, FLYN.v
FLYN.v, possible 10k ton per day nickel mine in Manitoba.
DOH!! I got the two links above backwards in the posts…
That company involves john lee so i’ll take a pass. and it’s not even a close call between the two assets.
I really like Stillwater Critical Minerals and especially now with more rhodium credits, I just hope another larger company decides to look at this deposit and maybe take out Sibanye and grab Stillwater. Sibanye believes that they can sit back but that is never the case in the mining industry. LOL!