Copper, Cobalt, and Lithium: The Key Players in the Future of Battery Metals

Issued on behalf of Usha Resources

Energy Metals News – As industries around the world work diligently to keep up with technological advancements and move towards their individual net zero goals, analysts at Sprott are warning of a looming supply gap in battery minerals. According to Sprott’s projections based on a Net Zero Emissions Scenario (NZE), battery metals demand is expected to experience a rapid surge by 2040, in copper, cobalt, lithium, nickel, graphite, and manganese all expected to see major increases in demand. Rystad Energy is also sounding the alarm, asking the question “Does the world have enough materials to supply developments of the 21^st century?”, expected a 30% climb in demand in 2050. Powering the optimism that the supply chain is secure are several miners working today towards the production for tomorrow, including developments from companies such as Usha Resources Ltd. (TSXV:USHA.VN) (OTC:USHAF), Patriot Battery Metals Inc. (TSX:PMET.TO) (OTCQX:PMETF), Arcadium Lithium plc (NYSE:ALTM), Glencore plc (OTCPK: GLNCY, GLCNF), and Teck Resources Limited (NYSE:TECK) (TSX: TECK-A, TECK-B).

Building upon the momentum of making discoveries and selling projects at a healthy ROI, critical energy transition metals developer Usha Resources Ltd. (TSXV:USHA.VN) (OTC:USHAF) recently announced an update on three of its assets. According to the company’s recent press release, Usha’s focus for this fall will be on its recently optioned Southern Arm Copper-Gold VMS project, where it has begun preparing for drilling and surveying to identify additional priority targets prospective for high-grade gold and copper mineralization.

At its White Willow Lithium Pegmatite Project, Usha just discovered spodumene, validating the company’s thesis that it has developed over the past 15 months that it would expand the project from its initial roots. This milestone did just that, successfully expanding the project from its initial roots with a high-grade tantalite assaying 120,000 ppm tantalum to a system with a strike length of ~44 kilometres.

Now with over 10 priority drill targets identified at White Willow, Usha is once again in a position to complete its maiden drill program or partner with another miner just like it did with the Jackpot Lake Lithium Brine Project in Nevada. For the Jackpot Lake asset, Usha has already received US$75,000 from Stardust Power for the right to earn up to a 90% interest subject to a 2% Net Smelter Royalty for a total consideration that could hit as high as US$26 million over five years in a mix of stock and/or cash, and a work commitment of US$8M.

The Jackpot Lake story is already a feather in the cap of Usha, which the company initially picked up for just C$950k in USHA stock, and a one-time C$75k cash payment, representing a potential ROI that’s 13x the original investment.

“Developing grassroots assets is a meaningful way to create shareholder value and White Willow is the second project which we have successfully developed in-house and advanced,” said Deepak Varshney, CEO of Usha Resources. “With working capital of over $2,000,000, Usha is in a very strong position to advance our Southern Arm Copper-Gold VMS Project and we look forward to sharing updates regularly as we lead into our maiden drill program planned for this Fall.”

Comparable in size to Usha’s White Willow project is the flagship project of Patriot Battery Metals Inc. (TSX:PMET.TO) (OTCQX:PMETF), which was recently renamed from the Corvette Project to the Shaakichiuwaanaan Project (pronounced Shaa-gi-chi-waa-naan). Shortly after announcing an exploration target that outlined the potential for additional tonnage on the project, Patriot Battery Metals followed up the optimism by announcing a significant mineral resource upgrade at the Shaakichiuwaanaan to underpin its impending Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA).

With the upgrade, Patriot Battery Metals reaffirmed it has the largest lithium pegmatite Mineral Resource in the Americas, and the 8^th largest globally. As per the latest press release, the project has 80.1 Mt at 1.44% Li₂O and 163 ppm Ta₂O₅ Indicated, and 62.5 Mt at 1.31% Li₂O and 147 ppm Ta₂O₅, Inferred.

"This is a significant update to our Mineral Resource Estimate at Shaakichiuwaanaan, which now includes both the CV5 and CV13 spodumene pegmatites as well as a significant amount of resources now classified as Indicated,” said Darren L. Smith, Vice President of Exploration, for Patriot Battery Metals. “This resource update objectively reaffirms the Tier 1 nature of the spodumene pegmatites that define the Shaakichiuwaanaan Project. Further, with both the CV5 and CV13 pegmatites remaining open, as well as multiple spodumene pegmatite clusters on the Property still to be drill tested, significant potential for further resource growth is evident."

Lithium giant Arcadium Lithium plc (NYSE:ALTM) recently acquired the lithium metal business of Li-Metal Corp in an all-cash US$11M deal. The acquisition includes the intellectual property and physical assets related to lithium metal production, including a pilot production facility in Ontario, Canada. Along with the assets, Arcadium is bringing on key personnel from Li-Metal’s lithium metal business, including Li-Metal’s co-founder and Chief Technology Officer, Maciej Jastrzebski through a consulting agreement to facilitate the transfer of technology and integrate the team.

"We are excited to welcome the team to Arcadium Lithium as we look to lead the way in developing cutting-edge lithium carbonate to lithium metal production technology,” said Paul Graves, President and CEO of Arcadium. “This small but important acquisition gives us a platform to advance new and better process pathways for manufacturing lithium metal. The ability to produce lithium metal from lithium carbonate will give us additional flexibility to utilize our vertically integrated network of assets while reducing the need for third-party lithium metal. This will further enhance the competitiveness of our butyllithium and lithium specialty chemicals business and help us create the scale needed to meet the growing demand for next generation battery materials developed from lithium metal."

Another metal that’s key to the energy transition is cobalt, which has seen its metal price plunge about 70% from a peak two years ago. But Gary Nagle, CEO of Glencore plc (OTCPK: GLNCY, GLCNF) sees the cobalt glut lasting no longer than two years to work through the surplus. The Swiss company currently owns two large copper-cobalt projects ion the Democratic Republic of Congo.

For now, Glencore has stopped stockpiling its EV-grade cobalt. Prior to the announcement, the company didn’t say at the time how many tons of cobalt it had already stockpiled, and Nagle declined to comment on the current level of those stocks.

“Our best guess now is it will probably take 18 to 24 months to work through this surplus,” Nagle said at a briefing reported by Reuters, adding that demand from the aerospace and defense industries was strong. “We’re not really stockpiling anymore, in fact we’ve actually sold down a bit of our stocks.”

In another part of Glencore’s business, the miner is set to continue with its coal assets acquired from Teck Resources Limited (NYSE:TECK) (TSX: TECK-A, TECK-B). Now there are other Teck assets up for grabs, as Chilean copper giant Codelco is considering taking a 10% stake in Teck’s Quebrada Blanca (QB) copper mine, currently held by state mining firm Enami, in a deal valued at about $500 million.

Teck is coming off of record quarterly copper production in Q2 2024, and has successfully transitioned into a pure-play energy transition metals company. As per the company’s unaudited second quarter results for 2024, Teck reported record quarterly copper production of 110,400 tonnes in the quarter, with the aforementioned QB mine’s production continuing to ramp-up to full production rates with first molybdenum produced it the quarter.

"We generated $1.7 billion of Adjusted EBITDA in the second quarter driven by record copper production with QB ramp-up continuing, as well as strong copper market fundamentals with copper prices reaching all-time highs," said Jonathan Price, President and CEO of Teck. "In early July, we completed the sale of our steelmaking coal business, and we now move forward as a pure-play energy transition metals company with leading copper growth. With cash proceeds of US$7.3 billion we will reduce debt, retain cash to fund our near-term copper growth, and return significant cash to our shareholders."

Article Source: https://energymetalnews.com/2023/02/28/charging-along-the-highway-towards-domestic-lithium-dominance/

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