Here is another great play, but patients is required! It’s an attraction that has earned Power Metals Corp (PWM,PWRMF), the 100% owner of the Case Lake property, attention and investment from some of the biggest names in critical metals mining.
Power Metals was an early player that started out with a high-grade lithium discovery in 2017. A year later, while still exploring for lithium, Power Metals hit a rare surprise: cesium, a critical metal so rare that it has recently become the focus of a superpower battle between China and the West.
This set-up is why Australian mining giant Winsome Resources jumped at a unique opportunity that arose when the Canadian Federal Government ordered all Chinese companies to divest shares in Canadian critical metals mining companies late last year, citing national security concerns.
When Winsome scooped up Hong Kong-based Sinomine’s Resources Group shares in Power Metals it was eyeing that 3X collection of commodities.
Then Winsome doubled its stake (from 5.7% to 10.13%) after it looked under the hood of Case Lake and saw the clear advantages that appear to indicate it could be a much faster and cheaper development than other lithium-focused projects.
The chance to get in on the first potential cesium play in North America wasn’t lost on one of Winsome’s biggest shareholders, either. Shortly after Winsome doubled its stake, Waratah Capital (one of the largest lithium funds in the world) moved to invest in Power Metals and then used its Lithium Royalty Corp to purchase a 2% royalty on future Case Lake lithium production for C$1.5 million.
The Case Lake Discovery
So far, Power Metals has drilled 80 drill holes over some 15,000 meters at Case Lake, making a significant world-class, high-grade (over 4%) lithium discovery at very shallow, open depth.
Some highlights from this discovery include:
- 1.94% Lithium and 323.75pp Tantalum over 26 meters
- 2.07% Lithium and 213.96pp Tantalum over 18 meters
- 4.75 % Lithium and 396.00pp Tantalum over 2 meters
- 1.71 % Lithium and 240.77pp Tantalum over 12 meters
- 1.20 % Lithium and 218.68pp Tantalum over 19 meters
Then, the real surprise: a cesium discovery with some of the highest-grades found in decades (up to 24% at good intervals).
Canada’s Critical Metals Mission
For North America, the future is all about ensuring an absolutely secure supply of critical minerals, and that means keeping Chinese hands out of the pie to avoid Beijing’s weaponization of metals that are the key to global technological superiority.
On the lithium and cesium front, Canada is leading this cold war because of its geology, but it’s doing it with full-on support from the United States. While lithium is a key concern when it comes to supply chains for a North American energy transition, cesium is the national security bogeyman.
Cesium’s high-level applications lend it superpower status. From its application in high-pressure, high-temperature offshore oil and gas drilling to its vital role in the global 5G race, it’s as rare as it is vital.
Cesium bromide is used in infrared detectors, optics, photoelectrical cells, scintillation counters and spectrometers. Even more critically, cesium is necessary for maintaining atomic resonance frequency standard in atomic clocks: That means if there is no cesium, there are no aircraft guidance systems, no global positioning satellites, and no internet and cellular telephone transmissions.
When the Canadian Federal Government moved last November to kick the Chinese out of the North American critical metals game, specifically focusing on Sinomine’s stake in Power Metals (PWM,PWRMF), it was a wake-up call for investors.