Company Interviews

Interview with Frederick Bell, Executive Director & CEO of Elemental Altus Royalties (TSX-V: ELE)

Elemental Altus Royalties Corp. (TSX-V: ELE) is an income-generating precious metals royalty company with 10 producing royalties and a portfolio of pre-production and exploration stage assets across 14 jurisdictions. 

The company recently announced the completion of Lundin Mining Corporation’s acquisition of a 51% stake in the Caserones copper-molybdenum mine in Chile. Elemental Altus holds an effective 0.473% net smelter return (NSR) royalty on Caserones, covering a 170 square kilometre area which includes all current reserves and resources and many regional targets. 

Elemental Altus has also executed an agreement to sell its Diba Gold Project in western Mali to Allied Gold Corporation. The sale provides near-term cash flow and royalties on future production from Diba, adding to Elemental Altus' portfolio of producing royalty assets.

What’s been happening?

It has certainly been a busy week for the nuclear sector!  There has been a host of positive news on the SMR front, the usual barrage of good policy news that we are growing accustomed to - and even some intrigue amongst uranium juniors.

Brandon’s stand-out SMR news (amongst a very full competitive field) was the Joint Development agreement between US utility Energy Northwest and X-Energy for up to 12 Xe-100 SMRs. This is an upgrade from the April 2021 announcement of 4 Xe-100 modules at Energy Northwest’s Columbia NPP site. The first SMR is expected online by 2030. 

The IEA released its 2023 Electricity Market Report

We have talked many times about the impact of power volatility on consumers. Now the IEA is bragging about it!   

Uranium Energy Corp (UEC) announced it has completed the steps required in their plan for a resumption of operations, enabling a faster restart at the Christensen Ranch in-situ recovery (ISR) Project in Wyoming.

Unfortunately for Peninsula Energy, UEC’s Christensen Ranch project need to free up that faster production from UEC’s Irigaray processing plant, which had been a vital part of Peninsula’s stage 1 restart of its Lance project.  

Peninsula announced a day later that it has delayed production at their Lance Projects in Wyoming because UEC has terminated their Resin processing agreement. Peninsula described the news as “disappointing” but is highlighting the silver lining – ie accelerating plans for in-house resin processing by going directly to stage 2 of the Lance restart.

Winner of the week 

Poland, for getting on with the job of developing nuclear power to replace its coal fired power base. Poland & South Korea sign 6 MoUs related to nuclear power generation, including 2 MoUs signed between Doosan Enerbility and Polish companies on the construction of new nuclear power plants in Poland.

Ministry of Climate and Environment has approved Polish copper and silver producer, KGHM Polska Miedź SA's plan to construct a power plant based on NuScale Power's small modular reactor (SMR).

Polish state-owned development bank, BGK, announced it will lend €500 million to help finance the building of small nuclear reactors.

Bungle of the week

New York State’s independent grid operator, ‘New York ISO’ has officially identified a shortfall of electric generating capacity for New York City in 2025 of 446MW – more if the city has another heatwave.  What a shame they turned off 2GW of emissions free nuclear power from the Indian Point nuclear power plant.  Even the three new gas fired power plants built to generate 1.8GW to replace Indian Point won’t be enough

Question of the week

What's the significance of the Paladin Energy announcement to retain 75% interest in Michelin JV in Labrador?

Tweet of the week

https://twitter.com/JohnLeePettim13/status/1681312834091896832?s=20

Moonshots & Fizzers

This week ‘Great British Nuclear’ (GBN) was launched, a new organisation backed by the UK government, to boost UK energy security, reduce dependence on volatile fossil fuel imports and deliver government priority to grow the economy. GBN kickstarted with a competition for game-changing small modular reactor (SMR) technology, which could result in billions of pounds of public and private sector investment in SMR projects. The aim is to have the first SMR up and running by 2030. By 2050 GBN wants to see nuclear providing a quarter of the UK’s electricity. 

Interview with Alex Underwood, Managing Director of Empire Energy (ASX: EEG)

Empire Energy, an ASX listed company, is an active developer in the Betaloo Basin, Australia's Northern Territory, with a growing resource and advancing pilot study. The company has drilled significant horizontal wells over the past year and observed encouraging flow rates from these wells. They also reported a substantial resource upgrade, now holding 1.7 trillion cubic feet of independently assessed discovered resource.

The company's focus is shifting towards pilot production, including all the groundwork needed to arrive at a final investment decision for the project. They aim to start construction in the coming year and move into production shortly after. The end goal is to make the company attractive to the market and potential acquirers.

Empire Energy has a prospective resource of over 40 trillion cubic feet of gas, which could provide significant LNG exports. They are aiming to de-risk this vast resource and see a potential for substantial value creation, similar to the experiences of other unconventional oil and gas companies in Australia and the US.

The company plans to bring large international oil and gas companies into the project as joint venture partners. However, these potential partners need to see that the gas can be commercially extracted before making significant investments. The pilot project, therefore, aims to provide longer-term flow data and repeatability of results to convince potential future partners.

The market opportunity for Empire Energy's gas is strong, with Australia facing significant shortages on its East Coast. The company is receiving strong interest for gas from the pilot project and views this as a significant driver of near-term value.

Interview with Keith Bowes, MD of Lotus Resources (ASX: LOT) 

Our previous interview: https://youtu.be/RwUKk4Hj-KQ

Recording date: 25th July 2023

Lotus Resources Limited, a company listed on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX: LOT) and the OTCQB (LTSRF), holds an 85% stake in the Kayelekera Uranium Project located in Malawi, Africa.

Presently, Kayelekera is under care and maintenance. Before its closure due to persistently low uranium prices, it was a highly productive asset, having produced about 11 million pounds of uranium.

In August 2022, Lotus issued a Re-Start Definitive Feasibility (DFS) Study which underscored Kayelekera's status as one of the world's lowest capital cost uranium projects, with costs amounting to US$88m. The study also confirmed that the project has the potential to rapidly resume production – requiring only 15 months for construction and refurbishment – following a final investment decision (FID).

Interview with Alan Carter, President & CEO of Cabral Gold (TSX-V: CBR)

Our previous interview: https://youtu.be/c5MbDpnIZd4

Recording date: 25th July 2023

Cabral Gold, a junior resource enterprise, primarily focuses on identifying, exploring, and developing mineral properties, predominantly gold locations in Brazil. It holds complete ownership of the Cuiú Cuiú gold district in the Tapajós Region, situated in Pará, a northern state of Brazil. The Cuiú Cuiú project has outlined two significant gold deposits to date, with National Instrument 43-101 compliant resources of 21.6 million tonnes at 0.87 g/t gold (604,000 ounces) indicated and 19.8 million tonnes at 0.84 g/t gold (534,500 ounces) inferred.

The Tapajós Gold Province, the largest gold rush site in Brazil's history, yielded an estimated 30 to 50 million ounces of placer gold from 1978 to 1995. Historically, Cuiú Cuiú, the area with the most extensive placer workings in the Tapajós, has been credited with an estimated production of 2 million ounces of placer gold.

Interview with Alexandra Woodyer Sherron, President & CEO of Empress Royalty Corp. (TSX-V:EMPR)

Our previous interview: https://youtu.be/B54A_w1C0J4

Recording date: 18th July 2023

Empress Royalty, a company specializing in royalty and streaming creation, presents investors with a well-rounded portfolio of gold and silver investments. Since their public listing in December 2020, the company has shown continuous growth by actively investing in development and production stage projects of mining companies requiring non-dilutive capital, thereby building a solid portfolio of precious metal investments.

The organization prides itself on implementing a financially disciplined approach to invest in cost-effective operations with experienced management teams that exhibit high growth potential. This strategic model allows Empress Royalty to leverage the stable cash flow and long-term capital gains from their streaming and royalty investments, facilitating constant revenue generation and value creation for their shareholders. As part of their strategic partnerships, Empress Royalty is delighted to collaborate with Endeavour Financial and Terra Capital, both of which enhance Empress Royalty's access to global investment opportunities. In addition to broadening the investment horizon, these alliances also infuse unique mining finance expertise, sophisticated deal structuring, and capital market accessibility into Empress Royalty's operations.

Interview with Darren Townsend, CDO of Neometals (ASX: NMT)

Our previous interview: https://youtu.be/JoAZ_iz8ADM

Recording date: 18th July 2023

Neometals is a pioneering Minerals and Advanced Materials project development company, dedicated to sustainable battery materials production. With a forward-thinking approach to circular economic principles, the company has created an array of green battery materials processing technologies designed to lessen dependence on traditional mining and processing methods. At the heart of the company's innovative strategies are three core battery materials businesses, each of which is commercialising proprietary, low-cost, and low-carbon process technologies through incorporated joint ventures.

Among these businesses, the Lithium-ion Battery ("LIB") Recycling division, a joint venture with global plant builder SMS group, offers a commercial disposal service, producing valuable materials like nickel, cobalt, and lithium from production scrap and end-of-life LIBs. Another venture is the Vanadium Recovery business, aimed at producing high-purity vanadium pentoxide from steelmaking by-product ("Slag"). Lastly, the Lithium Chemicals division focuses on producing battery-quality lithium hydroxide using the patented ELi™ electrolysis process. Additionally, Neometals oversees the Barrambie Titanium and Vanadium Project, boasting one of the world's highest-grade hard-rock titanium-vanadium deposits. In all its ventures, Neometals is reshaping the way the world perceives and uses mineral resources.

Interview with Aneel Waraich, Exec. VP of Steppe Gold (TSX:STGO)

Steppe Gold, the leading precious metals firm in Mongolia, initiated production in 2020, and it's predicted to generate 160,000oz of gold from the currently active oxide zone in its wholly-owned, principal ATO Gold Mine. The company recently revised its ATO Phase 2 enlargement project to approximately 103,000oz of gold, which includes a 12-year mining lifecycle, leading to a total duration of 14 years until 2036, at an AISC of roughly US $850.

As part of its growth strategies, Steppe Gold has entered into a definitive agreement to purchase Anacortes Mining. This acquisition will catalyze Steppe Gold's evolution into a diverse asset, multi-jurisdictional gold corporation with existing production and developing projects in both Mongolia and Peru - two of the world's most promising yet largely unexplored gold provinces. The newly amalgamated entity is projected to have a potential development profile of over 200,000oz and a gold resource base surpassing 4.5Moz.

Interview with Philippe Cloutier, President & CEO of Cartier Resources (TSX-V:ECR)

Our previous interview: https://youtu.be/_2_8x8qBsq8

Recording date: 21st July 2023

Established in 2006, Cartier Resources Inc. is a Val-d’Or-based firm that specializes in the exploration of advanced gold projects. All of the company's ventures are situated in Quebec, a location renowned globally as one of the leading mining jurisdictions. Cartier is presently propelling the progression of its primary venture, the Chimo Mine Project. With a cash standing of over $2.5 million, the company enjoys substantial corporate and institutional support, counting among its endorsers Agnico Eagle Mines, O3 Mining, and several Quebec investment funds.

Interview with Oliver Turner, Executive Vice President of Corporate Development of Karora Resources (TSX: KRR).

Our previous interview: https://youtu.be/9GRXi4LuRi0

Recording date: 20th July 2023

Karora Resources is a diversified mineral resource corporation primarily devoted to securing, scrutinizing, assessing, and enhancing properties rich in precious metals. Its aspiration is to transform into a top-tier, sustainable, and superior mid-level producer.

With an ambitious growth blueprint in motion, Karora intends to augment its predicted yearly gold output to roughly 200,000 ounces by 2024, marking a significant increase from the 2020 production levels. Concurrently, it aims to lower expenses at its interconnected Beta Hunt Gold Mine and Higginsville Gold Operations, both located in Western Australia. The Higginsville processing facility, a cost-effective plant with a capacity of 1.6 Mtpa, receives full-capacity feed from both Karora's subterranean Beta Hunt mine and the Higginsville mines.