RE:Triggers for Leading EdgeNew comments from yesterday regarding the two PEA:s:
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The Company is continuing to finalize the two preliminary economic assessment (“PEA”) studies on our Swedish projects. For Woxna, the PEA is looking to demonstrate the potential added economic benefit of producing active anode material for the lithium-ion industry based on the Company’s research and development of downstream processes. Woxna benefits from access to low cost green hydroelectricity which offers a distinct competitive and sustainability advantage. To demonstrate this advantage, the Company has commissioned a life cycle assessment (“LCA”) on the envisioned production from Woxna which aligns with the sustainable battery regulation announced by the European Commission in late 2020 that will enforce carbon footprint declarations on any batteries placed on the European market. The LCA report is planned to be released concurrently with the PEA report. There has been a constant flow of battery factory capacity announcements, most recently by Volkswagen announcing plans for six 40GWh battery plants by 2030 in Europe alone. With a built mine looking to add the downstream value add processing, and an ideal location logistically in Sweden, Woxna is in the right time and place to benefit from the expected exponential growth in graphite anode demand over the next decade.
For Norra Karr, the PEA targets to demonstrate a new potential operational model for REE production that maximizes resource efficiency whilst minimizing the environmental footprint of the project. The Company believes this new operational model could be key to promote public support for the project in addition to delivering potential improvement in project economics. Norra Karr is one of few heavy rare earth element projects of its kind globally, and the only project in Europe that could supply significant amounts of critical permanent magnet rare earths such as dysprosium and terbium. As Europe is urgently looking to support the development of its own rare earth magnet value chain to reduce reliance on China, Norra Karr could be a key piece to solve that puzzle.
The results from these two PEA studies, which are expected in the near future, will provide the basis for the next steps in development for each project so we are looking at a very active remainder of 2021. Importantly, the studies will provide the details of what the investment case looks like for the projects which can then be communicated to the broader investment community."