VANCOUVER, BC, Dec. 8, 2021 /CNW/ - Electric Royalties Ltd. (TSXV: ELEC) (OTCQB: ELECF) ("Electric Royalties" or the "Company") is pleased to provide the following asset update on its rapidly developing royalty portfolio.
Brendan Yurik, CEO of Electric Royalties, states, "It's been an incredible period of growth since our last asset update in September and we've had several more developments across the assets comprising our battery metal royalty portfolio." Highlights include:
- Authier Lithium Royalty - Sayona Mining (ASX: SYA) is working on a scoping study to produce spodumene concentrate, stating that they are targeting a start in 2023 by refurbishing the North American Lithium ("NAL") mine and integrating it with the Authier project. Sayona recently completed a 25 hole, 3,908 meter drill program to expand resources at Authier. Promising results from this program include drill hole AL–21–14, located some 250 meters west of the Authier deposit and potential open pit, returned a spodumene intersection assaying 9 meters @ 1.46% Li2O.
- Graphmada Graphite Royalty – Greenwing Resources (ASX: GW1) is currently undertaking a 3,000 meter drill program to further increase the size of the Graphmada deposit and to progress studies aimed at restarting large scale mining and processing operations.
- Cancet Lithium Royalty – Winsome Resources (ASX: WR1) completed an IPO in November and completed an A$18 million financing to advance the Cancet lithium project in 2022.
- Seymour Lake Lithium Royalty – Green Technology Metals (ASX: GT1) which signed a joint venture agreement to advance the Seymour Lake project earlier this year, completed an A$24 million capital raise and IPO in November and are well funded to advance the asset. Green Technology Metals is currently undertaking a step-out 11 hole, 3,500 meter diamond drilling program at Seymour Lake.
- Bissett Creek Graphite Royalty – Northern Graphite Corporation (TSXV: NGC) (OTCQB: NGPHF) announced the acquisition of two producing graphite mines which will help support offtake and funding negotiations at Bissett Creek in 2022. Northern Graphite also continued to demonstrate excellent performance of its Bissett Creek concentrate in battery testing in November.
- Battery Hill Manganese Royalty – Manganese X Energy (TSXV: MN) continues to improve processing of high grade battery manganese critical for EV / stored energy markets in support of a preliminary economic assessment ("PEA") which is currently underway.
"It's been a tremendous year overall with a heavy weighting towards lithium within our current portfolio and lithium prices up substantially this year. We anticipate major catalysts across most of our portfolio in 2022 so despite the robust asset advancement we've seen in 2021, we're expecting 2022 to be even more exciting. Since September, operators of the projects on which we hold royalties have raised over $40 million for the advancement of those assets, all occurring at no cost or dilution to Electric Royalties. From well-funded development plans for the Cancet and Seymour Lake projects, to upcoming economic studies at Battery Hill, to the progress on moving Authier and Graphmada toward production, 2022 is shaping up to be a transformational year."
Authier Lithium Royalty – 0.5% of Gross Revenue
Sayona Mining Limited ("Sayona") (ASX: SAY) announced as part of its quarterly update that the integration of NAL with Authier will transform both operations and create a world–scale Quebec based lithium hub. Sayona stated that they are targeting production of concentrate from 2023 (see Sayona news release dated August 30, 2021). Sayona will also advance plans for downstream processing in Quebec by taking advantage of the province's environmental and economic benefits which include low cost, renewable hydropower, an established mining services industry and proximity to the North American battery market (see Sayona news release dated October 29, 2021).
In addition, Sayona released drilling results at the Authier project as part of a program to increase the confidence and quality of the lithium mineralisation at the project (see Sayona news release dated December 1, 2021).
- A 25–hole, 3,908 meter diamond drill program was undertaken with the results of the first 22 holes received. Drilling was conducted by Les Forages Pikogan, a company owned by the local First Nations community, demonstrating Sayona's commitment to the First Nations community.
- Drill hole AL–21–14, located 250 meters west of the Authier deposit and potential open pit, returned spodumene pegmatites assaying 9 meters @ 1.46% Li2O from 144.9 meters depth. Three additional holes have been completed to infill this new area of mineralisation, with assay results pending.
- Follow up drilling at Authier will be planned after the receipt of assay results, with priority work including updated resource estimates, updated definitive feasibility study and integration of the new data with Sayona's Abitibi lithium hub.
Graphmada Graphite Royalty – 2.5% of Gross Concentrate Revenue
Greenwing Resources ("Greenwing") (ASX: WR1) announced an increase in the deposit size at its wholly owned Graphmada Mining Complex in Madagascar (see Greenwing news release dated November 19, 2021).
- An augur program of 180 holes (2,042 meters) at the Ambatofafana Zone has extended the strike of the Graphmada deposit to the southern end of the mining leases.
- A 3,000 meter diamond drilling program will commence this month with the aim to further increase the extent of the known mineralisation at the project.
- The ongoing expansion at Graphmada together with the history of production of high quality graphite concentrates positions Greenwing to rapidly progress the planning and development of the project. The company states that given the history of production at Graphmada, coupled with recent deposit expansion, they are positioned to rapidly progress studies contemplating a future throughput of up to 40,000 tonnes per annum production of large flake, clean concentrate suitable for sale to the growing green energy and advanced materials markets.
Cancet Lithium Royalty – 1% of Net Smelter Revenue
Winsome Resources ("Winsome") (ASX: WR1) commenced trading on the Australian Securities Exchange, following an Initial Public Offering (IPO) which raised $18 million (see Winsome news release dated November 30, 2021). Winsome will utilise the funds for an intensive exploration and drilling campaign at its projects in the James Bay region of Quebec, Canada, concentrating its efforts on establishing a maiden resource of high quality spodumene concentrate that is suitable for conversion across multiple battery applications. Winsome currently has three wholly owned projects - Cancet, Adina and Sirmac-Clapier. Drilling at the most advanced project, Cancet, indicates a potentially shallow, open pitable lithium deposit that would be located close to established road and power infrastructure.
Seymour Lake Lithium Royalty – 1.5% of Net Smelter Revenue
Green Technology Metals ("Green Technology") (ASX: GT1) raised gross proceeds of A$24 million to advance the Seymour Lake project. Green Technology is now successfully trading on the Australian Stock Exchange (see Green Technology news release dated November 8, 2021).
In addition, Green Technology has announced that a step-out, 11-hole, 3,500 meter diamond drilling program at Seymour is to commence in the coming weeks and the program is targeting a substantial increase in the extent of the existing deposit (see Green Technology news release dated November 18, 2021).
Bissett Creek Graphite Royalty – 1% of Gross Revenue and an option to increase the royalty by 0.5%
Northern Graphite Corporation ("Northern Graphite") (TSXV: NGC) announced the signing of binding purchase and sale agreements to acquire 100% ownership of the producing Lac des Iles graphite mine in Quebec from the Imerys Group and the Okanjande graphite deposit/Okorusu processing plant in Namibia from the Imerys Group and its joint venture partner for approximately US$40 million (see Northern Graphite news release dated December 2, 2021). Northern Graphite will become the only significant North American graphite producer and will acquire an existing customer base and market share. The acquisitions provide a platform from which to finance and develop Northern Graphite's Bissett Creek deposit.
Northern Graphite also announced that battery anode material ("BAM") manufactured from its Bissett Creek concentrates demonstrated excellent electrochemical performance during recent battery testing by ProGraphite in Germany. ProGraphite concluded that Northern Graphite's high purity anode material is very well suited for the manufacture of high capacity, durable, long-life lithium-ion batteries (see Northern Graphite news release dated November 11, 2021).
Battery Hill Manganese Royalty – 2% of Gross Revenue Manganese X Energy Corp. ("Manganese X Energy") (TSXV: MN) announced that recent processing and metallurgical work has resulted in significant cost reductions in the production of high-grade battery material (see Manganese X Energy news release dated October 12, 2021). This work is an integral part of the upcoming PEA, as the metallurgical processing is a key economic component of the project. The PEA will characterize and assess the economic and commercial viability of producing high-purity, battery-grade manganese products from the Battery Hill project located near Woodstock, New Brunswick.
- Kemetco Research has completed a major milestone for Battery Hill with the delivery of a complete process flowsheet. Locked-cycle testing has been initiated to confirm the high projected recovery rate of leached manganese into a high purity manganese sulphate monohydrate (HPMSM) product.
- Subsequent testing has focused on an innovative purification process to maximize recovery of the extracted manganese and to reduce costs and improve the environmental footprint.
David Gaunt, P.Geo., a qualified person who is not independent of Electric Royalties, has reviewed and approved the technical information in this release.
About Electric Royalties Ltd.
Electric Royalties is a royalty company established to take advantage of the demand for a wide range of commodities (lithium, vanadium, manganese, tin, graphite, cobalt, nickel, zinc & copper) that will benefit from the drive toward electrification of a variety of consumer products: cars, rechargeable batteries, large scale energy storage, renewable energy generation and other applications.
Electric vehicle sales, battery production capacity and renewable energy generation are slated to increase significantly over the next several years and with it, the demand for these targeted commodities. This creates a unique opportunity to invest in and acquire royalties over the mines and projects that will supply the materials needed to feed the electric revolution.
Electric Royalties has a growing portfolio of 17 royalties, including one royalty that currently generates revenue, with an additional royalty acquisition in progress. The Company is focused predominantly on acquiring royalties on advanced stage and operating projects to build a diversified portfolio located in jurisdictions with low geopolitical risk, which offers investors exposure to the clean energy transition via the underlying commodities required to rebuild the global infrastructure over the next several decades towards a decarbonized global economy.
On Behalf of the Board of Directors,
Brendan Yurik
CEO
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange), nor any other regulatory body or securities exchange platform, accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.