Company Interviews

Power Nickel is a TSXV listed mining company headquartered in Toronto, Canada. We are focused on the acquisition and exploration of mineral properties in Canada that offer the potential for high-grade nickel deposits.

Power Nickel also has a mining investment portfolio that contains an 80% ownership position of Consolidation Gold & Copper. Consolidation Gold & Copper owns 100% interest in the Golden Ivan project in British Columbia’s Golden Triangle and also owns 100% interest in three projects in Chile.

Lotus Resources Limited (ASX: LOT; OTCQB: LTSRF) is an Australian Stock Exchange listed uranium development company headquartered in Perth, Australia. The Company’s focus is on the restart of the Kayelekera uranium mine in Malawi, Africa. Lotus owns an 85% equity interest in Kayelekera with the remaining 15% held by the Malawi government.

The Project historically produced ~11Mlbs uranium oxide (U3O8 equivalent) over five-year between 2009-2014, before closing to preserve the asset longevity due to a sustained low uranium price. Kayelekera’s current Mineral Resource Estimate is 37.5Mlb of U3O8 at 630 parts per million (ppm).

In October 2020, Lotus released a Restart Scoping Study indicating that recommissioning of the Kayelekera plant would cost ∼US$50 million. The Company is currently completing a Definitive Feasibility Study that will be completed by mid-2022 with a decision to mine thereafter.

Kayelekera has the potential to become one of the first uranium operations to come back online to meet an impending supply shortfall in uranium. The restart timeline aligns with industry predictions of a market under-supply of approximately 30Mlbs uranium in 2024.

Search Minerals controls a rapidly emerging Critical Rare Earth Element (CREE) District in SE Labrador that is road accessible and on tidewater. The FOXTROT Deposit, on which a favourable Preliminary Economic Assessment was completed in April 2016, was the first of three important discoveries. Based on surface expression, the other two, Deep Fox and Fox Meadow, appear to be at least as large as FOXTROT. Surface channel sample assays at Deep Fox yielded grades 15% higher than channels at FOXTROT. Search has identified more than 20 other prospects in this highly accessible District and has developed a proprietary, scalable, hydrometallurgical process to optimize every opportunity to position as a competitive low-cost supplier of CREEs well into the future.The Company enjoys tremendous support from the Government of Canada and the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador, both of which have financially supported the development of our proprietary metallurgical process. In addition, Search personnel on the ground have built strong relationships with local communities and with the Nunatukavut Community Council who represent the local aboriginal people. All of these factors will help to ensure that our project can be brought into production at relatively low capital and operating costs and in a timely manner.

Nickel hit touched $100,000 overnight. LME trading was suspended. Increased more overnight than the prior price high in off-LME pricing. Have extended periods for people to settle trades and margin calls – market stories suggest that is Tsingshan / big boss personally short nickel and getting squeezed.  

Still not sure we took out inflation-adjusted pre-LME price of $8/lb in 1968 ($54 / today)

Driver in last 24 hours was short squeeze – was the same phenomena that took price up the final 20% to $54K that we hit in 2007. Didn’t call this this quickly.  Didn’t think anybody crazy enough to go this short nickel given the EV and stainless growth that we’ve seen in the market.

How did we get To $100,000 ?

Fundamentally, Nickel long-term demand growth of 4-5% annually always underestimated by analysts.

Period of underinvestment and few new nickel discoveries – large companies which owned non-Indo production allocated capital during prior decade to other metals and we’ve seen non Indonesian production shrinking each year for 5-6 years.  Supply can’t come on quickly in west Back in first show in 2019, highlighted the 2 Canadian projects that will just replace supply – spending $1 billion and $1.4 billion and got started building in 2018 and won’t come on until 2023.

One of big new higher grade discoveries, Nova Bollinger, looks like will close by 2026 or so (and was only discovered in 2012) and started production in 2016. Demand surge – nickel demand grew by 15% last year driven by more than 100% growth in EVs and double-digit demand growth from stainless steel. Inventories already at near-record levels in days of consumption - Only 80kt of nickel on exchanges – less than 2 weeks at current levels.

Russia just brought geopolitical risk in nickel to forefront and mismatch between kind of nickel market needs (low carbon, higher purity) and nickel supply (high carbon).  60% of nickel already China and Indonesia.  Rest of world only 40% and Russia one-quarter of that.  

Will solve the nickel market form balance in next 12-18 months (can’t fix the carbon problem without projects like Canada Nickel), but this just further emphasizes geopolitical supply chain risk.

Sanctioned nickel will still find a way to market but will probably add 2-3 months. That’s 40-60 kt of nickel vanishing into inventory. If every nickel consumer now nervous of supply and adds 1-2 weeks of inventory – that’s 60-120kt of nickel vanishing into inventory.
Where do we go from here?

Will be face-ripping volatility.Will get big aftershocks (prices moving $10,000 tonne in a day up and down and even bigger intraday ranges. Nickel will trade anywhere from between $30K and $100K in price – likely most of time between $34 and $60K for next period of time.  

Calidus Resources is an ASX-listed gold exploration and development company that controls the 1.7Mozs Warrawoona Gold Project located in the East Pilbara district of the Pilbara Goldfield in Western Australia.

In early 2021, Calidus commenced construction of the Warrawoona Gold Project, following receipt of regulatory approvals and completion of financing. The Company is on track to become Australia’s next gold producer in the June quarter of 2022.

Electric Royalties Inc. (“Electric Royalties”) is royalty company set to take advantage of the demand for a wide range of commodities (lithium, vanadium, manganese, tin, graphite, cobalt, nickel & copper) that will benefit from the drive to electrification (cars, rechargeable batteries, large scale energy storage, renewable energy generation and other applications). 

Palladium One Mining Inc. is a Platinum Group Element (“PGE”) Nickel-Copper exploration and development Company. Its assets consist of the Läntinen Koillismaa PGE-Nickel-Copper Project, located in north-central Finland and the Tyko Nickel-Copper, PGE Property near Marathon, Ontario, Canada.

First Mining is a Canadian gold developer focused on the development of the Springpole Gold Project in northwestern Ontario, one of the largest undeveloped gold projects in Canada. 

The results of a positive Pre-Feasibility Study for the Springpole Gold Project were announced by First Mining in January 2021, and permitting activities are ongoing leading to the submission of an Environmental Impact Statement as outlined in detail on our Environmental Assessment portal. The Company is the largest shareholder of Treasury Metals who are advancing the Goliath Gold Complex in Ontario. First Mining also has active partnerships with operators advancing other Canadian projects including the Pickle Crow Gold Project (Auteco Minerals) and Hope Brook Gold Project (Big Ridge Gold). In addition, First Mining owns a growing strategic royalty portfolio along with other wholly owned properties: Cameron, Duparquet, Duquesne and Pitt.

GoviEx is a Canadian mineral resource company focused on the exploration and development of uranium properties in Africa. The company has a sizable resource inventory with over 143M lbs U3O8  in measured and indicated categories, and 86.9M lbs U3O8 in the inferred category.  GoviEx’s principal objective is to become a significant uranium producer through the continued exploration and development of its flagship mine-permitted Madaouela Project in Niger, its mine-permitted Mutanga Project in Zambia, and its multi-element Falea Project in Mali.

Inventa was founded in 2017 with the goal to discover emerging opportunities in the natural resource sector. Today, Inventa has grown into one of the premier mining groups with a first-rate portfolio of companies and a world class team. In 2020, Inventa raised over $100mn for its group of companies.