Tesla ties up Talon's NiWith Tesla’s announced purchase yesterday, of 165 mm lb Ni from Talon, they have tied up 54% of Talon’s current Ni resource. Although Grid’s Mayville/Makwa deposits have lower grades, tonnage is three times higher, such that Grid’s current total resource value (3.3 $bil) is on par with that of Talon (4.0 $bil). What’s more, Grid’s deposits are low cost open pittable resources, while Talon’s are underground mining resources. Granted, Talon has discovered additional resources this past summer, at shallower deposits, but we should note that Grid has also identified new conductive plates adjacent to the existing Makwa resource. Grid has indicated they will be drilling these new targets in January and we should be hearing more about this after the Lithium Royalties buy-in closes this week.
Ore Value Calculation; Talon vs Grid Metals
| | Price
(US$) | Talon
Tamarack
11 mm t (ind+inf) | Grid
Mayville
27mm t (ind) | Grid
Makwa
(7.2 mm t (ind) |
| | $ oz/lb | % | $/t | % | $/t | % | $/t |
| Ni | 9.00 | 1.4 | 252 | 0.18 | 32 | 0.61 | 108 |
| Cu | 4.00 | 0.8 | 64 | 0.45 | 36 | 0.13 | 10 |
| Co | 20.00 | 0.04 | 16 | | | 0.01 | 4 |
| Pd | $1800 | 0.20 | 11 | 0.14g | 9 | 0.36g | 23 |
| Pt | 1000 | 0.32 | 13 | 0.05g | 2 | 0.10g | 4 |
| Au | 1800 | 0.16 | 10 | 0.05g | 3 | | |
| | Total ore value /t | $366 | total | $82 | total | $149 |
| Operating cost/t milled | | | $201 | | $20 |
| | | | | | |
| Total deposit value ($bil) | $4.0 | | $2.2 | | $1.1 |
| | | | | | |
| Market cap (Jan 10/22) | $421 mm | $10 mm |
| Cash | $33 mm | $ 92 mm |
| Enterprise Value | $388 mm | $ 1 mm |
1) inferred from PEA cutoff value
2) includes $6 mm from Lithium Royalties buy-in