ENCOUNTER RESOURCES

(ASX:ENR)

Company Profile

Encounter Resources is following up on some exciting late-2022 results as it explores for copper, rare earths and lithium at its 100% owned projects, as well as those covered by farm-in agreements with industry titans BHP, South32 and IGO.

Attracting the attention of majors is hard work in a crowded small cap space, so the backing of high-profile partners is a significant tick for ENR. ENR currently has agreements in place for up to $65 million in initial exploration funding.

In its 100% owned portfolio, Encounter controls a commanding position in the exciting West Arunta region of WA with a +100km east-west tenement holding.

“Modern geophysics is revealing exceptional targets in the West Arunta critical minerals province. The limited exploration in the West Arunta has shown that the region is highly prospective for the formation of IOCG and carbonatite-hosted REE deposits under shallow cover,” Will Robinson, Encounter managing director, said. The first drill holes completed in the region contain highly anomalous REE and niobium as well as IOCG pathfinders. We believe that the West Arunta is on the verge of becoming the next major copper and rare earths exploration focus in Australia.”

Across the Northern Territory border ENR’s assets include a series of copper opportunities. Among these are the Elliott project, which is being advanced via a $25 million earn-in and joint venture in partnership with BHP, and farm-in agreements with South32 at the Jessica Copper and Carrara Copper-Zinc projects.

Eight targets defined at Jessica and Carrara by South32 will be drilled commencing in April-May 2023, while the first diamond drill program by BHP was recently completed at Elliott.

On top of this, field work recently delineated two juicy lithium targets at the Junction project in the lithium-rich North Arunta pegmatite province of the Northern Territory, home to Core Lithium’s (ASX:CXO) Ringing Rocks target.

Outcropping pegmatites at the Junction project have been sampled, with results expected in February 2023.

A soil sampling program early this year at Junction will test for caesium, tantalum, tin, tungsten and rubidium, as well as more lithium, with ENR to carry out reverse circulation drilling of defined targets after the results of this sampling are in.

In WA’s Paterson Province, ENR is developing a large portfolio, including the 100% owned Lamil Project, and coppercobalt deposits at the Yeneena project through its $15 million earn-in and JV with IGO. Lamil covers an extensive mineralised copper-gold system 25km northwest of Newcrest’s huge Telfer gold, copper mine.

“The footprint of mineral system at Lamil continues to grow and high-grade coppergold reefs, up to 6.5% copper and 21.5g/t gold, were intersected nearer to surface in the latest drilling,” Robinson said.

“For 2023, we are looking to capitalise on our strengths: the right commodity mix; high quality projects; relationships with Australia’s biggest companies and an experienced and capable team.”

Key Points

◾ Company Name: Galileo Mining

◾ Company ASX code: GAL

◾ Key Commodities: Palladium, nickel, copper, platinum, rhodium, cobalt, gold

◾ Key Personnel: Brad Underwood, Chairman & Managing Director

◾ Locations: Norseman & Fraser Range, Western Australia

◾ Market Cap as of 25/01/23: $188.73M

◾ 52-Week Share Price Range at 25/01/23: $0.185 - $1.950

◾ W: galileomining.com.au

Investment Highlights

◾ Galileo Mining recently encountered significant palladium, platinum, copper, nickel, and rhodium at its emerging Callisto discovery in Norseman, Western Australia.

◾ The company is strongly supported, with its largest shareholders being successful mining investor Mark Creasy and major mining company IGO.

◾ Galileo is well funded with a strong cash position of $20 million and has an exceptional track record of deploying capital into exploration activities, building shareholder value through discoveries.

(ASX:GLN)

Company Profile

Galan Lithium is poised to become a major player in battery minerals with two worldclass projects within South America’s ‘lithium triangle’, as well as Greenbushes South in Western Australia, about 3km from the world’s largest and highest grade hard rock lithium deposit.

After snapping up the last 20% it didn’t already own in the Greenbushes South lithium project last year, Galan is set to drill for the first time down the road from the Greenbushes mine owned by industry giants Albemarle, Tianqi Lithium and IGO. A drilling program at the project 250km south of Perth and covering about 315sq km, will take place after highly encouraging

Over in Argentina, Galan has two preliminary economic assessment (PEA) level projects – Hombre Muerto West (HMW) and Candelas – with a combined long-term base production of 34,000 tonnes per annum lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE).

HMW has been proven to host lithium brine deposition of the highest grade and lowest impurity levels in Argentina. That’s not bad given it’s in world-class lithium ‘elephant country’, within a 20km radius of the established El Fenix lithium operations (Livent Corporation), the Sal de Vida (Allkem) and Sal de Oro (POSCO) lithium projects.

HMW’s definitive feasibility study, on track for delivery in Q1 this year, got a game-changing boost last October when Galan announced a 2.5-times increase in its mineral resource estimate (MRE) to 5.8 million tonnes contained LCE at 866 mg/l Li.

For the first time the MRE included a higher confidence measured resource, which came in at 4.4Mt at 883 mg/l Li.

That increase, driven by the company’s

The news was followed in November by Galan announcing it would apply to scale up the pilot program at HMW, which is in the final stages of construction. The expanded pilot program will include 120ha of evaporation ponds to boost pilot production to 4000 tonnes per annum of LCE.

Full-scale HMW production profile permits for 20,000tpa of LCE are on track to be lodged in the first quarter of this year, while construction of the expanded pilot plant could start in the second half of calendar year 2023.

Led by a highly experienced board and in-country team with a mix of world-class knowledge and local insights, Galan is targeting first-phase lithium concentrate output from HMW in 2024 and lithium concentrate production from HMW in 2025.

BRAD UNDERWOOD CHAIRMAN & MANAGING DIRECTOR

Galileo Mining

(ASX:GAL)

Galan Lithium Company Profile

Galileo Mining has all the hallmarks of success, with the backing of high profile mining investors, high value targets hosting minerals critical to the world’s electric future, plenty of cash in the bank, and an early stage discovery with substantial upside.

GAL has come off a busy 2022 and launched into 2023, with exploration ongoing across its portfolio of projects in the tier one mining jurisdictions of Norseman and the Fraser Range in Australia’s top mining state, Western Australia.

The 100% owned Norseman project is ripe with new discoveries, the most recent being a fresh nickel sulphide zone at the Callisto prospect that in December 2022 delivered its highest grades to date of nickel (1.58%) and copper (0.93%) from disseminated sulphides.

The peak nickel, copper, and palladium grades at the prospect are interpreted as increasing at depth and to the east.

“The nickel results from disseminated sulphides in diamond core show we are drilling a quality mineralised system capable of producing high grades of nickel, copper, and palladium within disseminated sulphides,” Brad Underwood, managing director of Galileo, said following the discovery.

The Callisto prospect is geologically similar to the extensive Platreef palladium-platinumgold-rhodium-copper-nickel deposits in the renowned Bushveld Complex of South Africa, which contains the world’s largest reserves of platinum group elements (PGEs).

The Platreef deposits are very large in nature and have combined indicated resources of +700 million tonnes (Mt) at 1 gram per tonne PGEs plus gold.

Callisto already hosts a 25Mt nickel-cobalt laterite resource and Galileo is working hard to unearth the full potential of this new palladium-platinum-rhodium province in Western Australia, with over 20,000m of drilling completed so far.

GAL also has joint ventures with successful mine finder Mark Creasy, one of the company’s largest shareholders, over highly prospective ground in the Fraser Range.

The region is best known for another Creasy-led discovery – the world-class Nova nickel-copper-cobalt mine unearthed in 2012 by Sirius Resources.

There is still vast untapped potential in the Fraser Range, with just two deposits uncovered to date and over 150km of prospective strike between them.

Galileo has identified two targets that host sulphides, one located 30km from Nova and the other 80km from the mine, increasing the confidence in the regional prospectivity.

GAL is led by a highly experienced board including Underwood, who has more than 20 years’ experience in exploration, prospecting, and mining and was previously general manager of the Creasy Group’s exploration in the Fraser Range and at Norseman.

The company, which includes major mining company IGO – the current owner of the Nova mine – as one of its largest shareholders, is well funded with ~$20 million in the bank to continue building shareholder value through discoveries.

With an early discovery valuation of around $180 million, Galileo is highly leveraged to further exploration success.

KEY POINTS

◾ Company Name: Global Lithium Resources

◾ Company ASX code: GL1

◾ Key Commodities: Lithium

◾ Key Personnel: Warrick Hazeldine, Non-Executive Chairman | Ron Mitchell, Managing Director

◾ Locations: Western Australia

◾ Market Cap as of 25/01/23:

$560.85M

◾ 52-Week Share Price Range at 25/01/23: $1.005 - $2.940

◾ W: globallithium.com.au

Investment Highlights

◾ Transformative JORC compliant resource upgrade to 50.7 million tonnes at 1% Li2O following substantial increases in inventory at the Manna and Marble Bar lithium projects in Western Australia.

◾ Consolidated ownership of Manna project with the acquisition of the remaining 20% interest from Breaker Resources, providing Global Lithium with a clearer development pathway.

◾ Scoping study already underway and feasibility study to commence at Manna in 2023 to progress the project towards production.

RON MITCHELL MANAGING DIRECTOR

Global Lithium Resources

projects in December 2022.

GL1 anticipates it will grow this resource base further in 2023 with the inclusion of results from an additional ~30,000m of drilling undertaken at the Manna project. Both the Manna and Marble Bar projects have significant scope for further growth, the explorer says.

Global Lithium cemented itself as the sole owner of the Manna project in November last year after it acquired the remaining 20% of the project from Breaker Resources – a move that provides the company with a clearer development pathway.

concentrate produced from the company’s operations at market prices, which increased significantly in 2022.

$16 billion lithium producer Mineral Resources (ASX:MIN), meanwhile, increased its stake in the company to 9.9% in October 2022 by participating in the $121.5m equity raising.

In 2022, Global Lithium also signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding with Korean battery maker SK On to explore a range of business opportunities, including potential development of downstream lithium assets.

KEY POINTS

◾ Company Name: Hammer Metals

◾ Company ASX code: HMX

◾ Key Commodities: Copper, gold

◾ Key Personnel: Dan Thomas, Managing Director | Russell Davis, Chairman Ziggy Lubieniecki, NonExecutive Director

◾ Locations: Mount Isa, Queensland & Yandal region, Western Australia

◾ Market Cap as of 25/01/23:

$59.14M

DAN THOMAS MANAGING DIRECTOR

Hammer Metals

1.5% copper equivalent by announcing a maiden resource for its Lakeview deposit.

Further growth is anticipated as the company prepares to deliver a resource upgrade for the project’s cornerstone Kalman deposit in 2023 based on recent drilling and promising recent ore sorting results.

and exclude the already defined JORC resources.

In Western Australia, the explorer has a large position in the heart of the fertile yet underexplored Yandal belt that boasts production of over 24 million ounces (Moz) of gold.

KEY POINTS

◾ Company Name: Greenstone

Resources

◾ Company ASX code: GSR

◾ Key Commodities: Gold, lithium, cobalt, scandium

◾ Key Personnel: Chris Hansen, Managing Director & CEO Glenn Poole, Technical Director & Chief Geologist

◾ Locations: Coolgardie & Norseman, Western Australia

◾ Market Cap as of 25/01/23:

$34.38M

◾ 52-Week Share Price Range at 25/01/23: $0.023 - $0.084

◾ W: greenstoneresources.com.au

■ High-grade gold resources centered on the historic mining region of Coolgardie, including the historic and underexplored Burbanks gold mine (100% ownership).

■ Advanced stage cobalt, nickel, manganese and scandium project centered on Norseman, for which IPO options are currently under review (50% ownership).

■ Exploration war chest at GSR’s disposal, with $4.9 million cash at bank at September 30 and no debt.

“We are now in the fortunate position to own 100% of Manna following the consolidation of Breaker Resources’ 20% stake in November 2022,” Ron Mitchell, Global Lithium managing director, said.

◾ 52-Week Share Price Range at 25/01/23: $0.044 - $0.130

◾ W: hammermetals.com.au

COMPANY PROFILE

Global Lithium is rapidly building its valuable lithium resource in Western Australia, positioning itself as the state’s fastest growing lithium company.

The global electric vehicle value chain is now turning its attention to the next wave of potential supply and Western Australia is in the box seat, accounting for more than 50% of the world’s lithium production in the form of raw materials.

Global Lithium wholly owns two of only 14 JORC compliant lithium resources in Australia, having amassed a game-changing war chest of 50.7 million tonnes at 1% Li2O after delivering substantial increases in the resources at the Manna and Marble Bar

“This provides us with maximum control and flexibility to expedite these studies with the goal of bringing Manna into production as soon as practicable.”

The company expects to reveal the outcomes of the scoping study, which will lay the foundation for the subsequent feasibility study, for Manna in the first quarter of 2023.

Late last year, GL1 also completed a $121.5m equity raising providing it with the cash it required to fund the acquisition and complete the upcoming feasibility study, while adding balance sheet strength and flexibility during the critical project growth and study phase.

Global Lithium is in the enviable position of having secured lucrative partnerships such as a 10-year strategic offtake with Suzhou TA&A for at least 30% of spodumene

GL1’s highly experienced board and management team has deep lithium industry connections like Mitchell’s own 25 years’ experience in senior commercial, strategy, sales and business development roles, including senior positions at Tianqi Lithium Corporation and Talison Lithium.

(ASX:HMX)

The current in-ground value of Kalman’s resources, based on current metal prices, is more than $6 billion, and recent exploration shows strong potential to increase resources further.

The 260sq km of highly prospective ground sits close to existing multi-million-ounce mines, including the 4Moz Bronzewing and 1.1Moz Orelia gold deposits.

(ASX:GL1) (ASX:GSR)

CHRIS HANSEN MANAGING DIRECTOR & CEO

He is also the inaugural chairman of the London Metal Exchange (LME) Lithium Committee, a position he has held for more than three years.

INVESTMENT HIGHLIGHTS

◾ JORC resource inventory of over 400,000 tonnes of copper equivalent metal at an average grade of 1.5% copper equivalent with a resource upgrade expected in Q2 2023.

◾ Multiple high-grade exploration targets in Australia’s most desirable copper district with follow up drilling programs underway.

◾ Experienced team with a proven track record for large-scale mineral discoveries.

COMPANY PROFILE

Hammer Metals has built a sizable copper resource after establishing a large foothold in one of the world’s most significant iron oxide-copper-gold regions, providing it an advantage over many other explorers. The company has a vast 2600sq km of highly prospective ground in Mt Isa in Queensland, one of the largest base metal provinces in the world.

IOCG deposits can host massive and highgrade concentrations of copper, gold, and other minerals. BHP’s Olympic Dam mine in South Australia, for example, is one of the world’s largest deposits of copper, gold, silver, and uranium.

Late last year, HMX expanded its resource at Mt Isa to over 400,000 tonnes of copper equivalent metal at an average grade of

Kalman also has the added advantage of being the world’s third-highest grade undeveloped molybdenum deposit.

The numbers justify more than 10 years spent accumulating a significant land position at Mt Isa, where work is ongoing across the board. HMX has a pipeline of targets here, from greenfield prospects with strong IOCG potential through to advanced development study projects.

Mining studies are already underway at Kalman, as well as the Jubilee, Overlander, and Elaine prospects, to assess development options.

Hammer also has joint ventures in Mt Isa with two globally significant copper producers, Sumitomo Metal Mining and Glencore, which validates the company’s thesis of the potential that lies within its tenure.

The JVs cover only 15% of HMX’s ground

Hammer Metals has identified numerous zones of highly anomalous gold in drilling at the Bronzewing South and North Orelia prospects.

HMX has also uncovered a highly encouraging lithium-bearing zone at its Yandal ground, 40km east of the world-class Kathleen Valley lithium-tantalum project. Rock chip sampling delivered grades of up to 0.65% Li2O from the newly discovered Tapenade prospect.

The established copper inventory and extensive exploration blue sky underpins the underlying value attributed to Hammer Metals.

Greenstone Resources

Company Profile Investment Highlights

Bonanza gold grades are a rare event in modern gold exploration, so Greenstone Resources’ hit of 7m at 57.8 grams per tonne gold near Coolgardie in December was an eye opener to the potential of its historic Burbanks gold project.

Burbanks was first discovered in 1885 and across more than a century produced over 420,000 ounces of gold from just the upper 150m – including a high-grade core 180,000 ounces at 27.4 grams per tonne (g/t) gold. Eye-watering numbers.

Historically, however, operators had been focused on small-scale production, meaning limited exploration work had been carried out below 250m in the central mining area and almost no exploration below 50m along the broader 5km strike extent of the Burbanks shear zone.

Greenstone has completed a full corporate rejuvenation process with an entirely new board and management team now undertaking a three-phase drilling campaign to test the true geological potential of Burbanks and the broader Coolgardie gold portfolio.

The campaign has started with 10,000m of infill drilling over an under-explored and unclassified area north of the main mine, which supports an exploration target of between 215,000-330,000 ounces. It was here that bonanza gold was reported from 90m.

Greenstone hopes the current round of drilling will add up to 330,000 ounces of contained gold to the project’s already considerable 277,000oz JORC resource.

The company is scheduled to finish the first phase of infill by March, after which it will update the resource to potentially support a pre-feasibility study while tackling the second and third phases of the program. These will test unexplored areas of the Burbanks shear zone to depths of up to 500m, and also test directly below the level of the historical mine area.

Greenstone’s other Coolgardie hub assets include the Phillips Find mining centre and the Phoenix mine – both previously producers of historical significance.

As with Burbanks, Greenstone sees potential for exploration beneath the three historic open pits of Phillips Find, where little has been done to date.

Meanwhile at the recently acquired Phoenix, planning is underway for maiden drill campaign in early 2023 that will target north-west to south-east trending geological structures.

Greenstone’s other major asset is its cobalt-focused 50-50 joint venture with Conico (ASX:CNJ), the Mt Thirsty project.

Located 16km northwest of Norseman, Western Australia, Mt Thirsty borders ground held by Galileo Mining (ASX:GAL), which last year made significant platinum-group discoveries just 200m north of the JV’s tenement boundary.

First phase drilling at Mt Thirsty was a success, with the JV reporting the sixth-best cobalt intercept reported nation-wide in 2022 – 78m at 0.113% cobalt from an extremely shallow 3m, including 15m at 0.45% cobalt, 0.91% nickel, 5.42% manganese and 40.9g/t scandium from 45m.

Drilling was principally focused on testing deeper ultramafic sill horizons at Mt Thirsty, including potential extensions to GAL’s Castillo discovery.

Options to consolidate the ownership structure at the Mount Thirsty JV to support an IPO are currently under review.

KEY POINTS

◾ Company Name: ioneer

◾ Company ASX code: INR

◾ Key Commodities: Lithium carbonate, boric acid

◾ Key Personnel: James D. Calaway, Executive Chairman | Bernard Rowe, Managing Director & CEO | Ian Bucknell, CFO

◾ Locations: Nevada, US

◾ Market Cap as of 25/01/23: $986.21M

◾ 52-Week Share Price Range at 25/01/23: $0.315 - $0.835

◾ W: ioneer.com

INVESTMENT HIGHLIGHTS

◾ Ioneer is positioned to become a cornerstone supplier of lithium into the domestic US EV supply chain through separate binding offtake agreements with Ford and Toyota (Toyota-Panasonic joint venture).

◾ With debt and equity commitments of nearly US$1.2 billion, INR is primed to commence construction upon receipt of final permitting.

◾ Exploration programs focused on organic growth opportunities will become more prominent to demonstrate significant multi-generational scale potential of the Rhyolite Ridge project.

Ioneer

COMPANY PROFILE

Australian-listed ioneer has positioned itself to become a cornerstone supplier of lithium to the domestic US electric vehicles (EV) supply chain through its Rhyolite Ridge project – the most advanced undeveloped lithium project in the US with conditional loan backing from the US Department of Energy.

Fully funded to a final investment decision, the world-class resource is a unique lithiumboron deposit with a very robust definitive feasibility study modelled on 63Mt, 26+ year mine life – and significant potential for this to increase further.

It’s also expected to be a low-cost lithium producer in the US, thanks partly to its valuable boron co-product.

Ioneer entered into a conditional 50-50 joint venture agreement with SibanyeStillwater in September 2021 to advance Rhyolite Ridge, with INR retaining operational management responsibility.

INR signed separate offtake agreements with Ford Motor Company and PPES (a joint venture between Toyota and Panasonic) in 2022 and Korea’s EcoPro Innovation in 2021. In top location for a battery metals project, Rhyolite Ridge is on uninhabited federal land just 330km from the Tesla Gigafactory near Reno, Nevada.

It’s also an ideal time for the project, with the US now determined to overcome its dependence on foreign battery supply chains and supporting the domestic industry with billions of dollars.

INR is a beneficiary of this government push, receiving in January a US Department of Energy (DOE) conditional commitment for a loan of up to US$700 million (A$1 billion).

The proposed DOE loan, coupled with Sibanye-Stillwater’s (JSE: SSW and NYSE: SBSW) expected 50% equity contribution of US$490 million in the project, is expected to fund a substantial part of the preliminary capital expenditure estimate – a significant step towards a complete funding package for Rhyolite Ridge.

Conditions include a positive record of decision (ROD) issued by the Bureau of Land Management, and a final investment decision (FID) by both ioneer and Sibanye-Stillwater.

However, the term sheet and conditional commitment from DOE demonstrates its strong support for Rhyolite Ridge. The loan would also be the first-ever by the DOE to provide financing for the processing component of a project where lithium is extracted and refined at site.

In a positive sign from the DOE, Jigar Shah, director of its Loans Programs Office (LPO) commented: “Rhyolite Ridge is a major step towards bolstering domestic lithium production for clean energy technologies, and LPO is excited to further develop an environmentally responsible US supply chain for critical materials.”

After a construction period of 24 months, first production is expected in 2026 from a low-emissions and low-water-usage site with a small mine footprint.

While the BLM works towards the permitting ROD, ioneer will continue efforts on being “shovel ready” ahead of FID and, with a resource update on the horizon, is now planning exploration programs focussed on organic growth opportunities within existing tenements aimed at demonstrating the significant multi-generational scale potential that Rhyolite Ridge has to offer.

Key Points

◾ Company Name: Krakatoa Resources

◾ Company ASX code: KTA

◾ Key Commodities: Rare earths, nickel, copper, platinum group elements, gold

◾ Key Personnel: Colin Locke, Executive Chairman Mark Major, CEO

◾ Locations: Western Australia, New South Wales

◾ Market Cap as of 25/01/23: $14.82M

◾ 52-Week Share Price Range at 25/01/23: $0.039 - $0.140

◾ W: ktaresources.com

INVESTMENT HIGHLIGHTS

■ Emerging critical metals developer, successfully progressing a diverse portfolio of rare earths, nickel and rubidium projects, located in tier-one mining jurisdictions.

■ Major clay-hosted ionic rare earth discovery made at Mt Clere in April 2022 – Tower deposit maiden mineral resource estimate of 101 million tonnes at 840ppm TREO defined in November 2022.

■ Exploration and development potential at Mt Clere underpinned by scale of the project, with only 20% of Mt Clere explored to date.

Krakatoa Resources

Company Profile

Krakatoa Resources has secured the right projects and commodities at the perfect time, aligning the company’s growth with strong demand from the electric revolution.

The explorer has exposure to the critical rare earth magnet metals needed to fuel the global clean energy transition through EVs, wind turbines, aerospace, and robotics.

Importantly, and a major competitive advantage for Krakatoa, is the company is developing Australia’s few clay rare earth resources.

KTA’s Mt Clere project hosts a large resource of 101 million tonnes at 840 parts per million of total rare earth oxides (TREO) at the Tower prospect, located in the mineral rich Yilgarn Craton in Western Australia.

Forty per cent of that resource is already in an indicated category.

Tower was the first major discovery at Mt Clere, which contains significant and widespread clay-hosted ionic rare earth elements (REEs) at several of its prospects, with mineralisation starting at surface.

Clay-hosted ionic rare earth deposits offer explorers advantages over their hard rock counterparts.

They often contain a higher proportion of magnet rare earths, and crucially, the heavy rare earths – the type critical for use in wind turbines and electric vehicles.

Clay-hosted deposits are also easier to explore, drill and mine, and processing is cheaper. Only a handful of these types of projects are being developed outside of China, which dominates the market.

Krakatoa’s aggressive exploration has delivered significant, near-surface, high-grade REEs and also identified valuable heavy mineral sands comprising highly sought after minerals such as zircon, rutile, and ilmenite.

There is still extensive exploration upside, with the company having outlined an exploration target of up to 481 million tonnes TREO and only 20% of the target drilled so far.

Mt Clere also provides strong potential for a major base metals discovery, with targets identified that show similarities to Chalice Mining’s (ASX:CHN) Gonneville deposit at its company-making Julimar nickel-copperplatinum group elements (PGE) discovery.

Krakatoa began drilling for basement sulphides in late November 2022 and only a short time later reported that it had encountered multiple sulphide zones in all holes, with one intersection returning a wide 30m zone of up to 30% sulphides from 183m downhole.

Further growth potential lies within the historic King Tamba tantalum mine that hosts other specialty metals like rubidium, lithium, niobium, and tin.

Krakatoa is preparing to deliver a maiden resource for the project, which is located 80km northwest of Mt Magnet within the Dalgaranga Greenstone Belt in Western Australia, but there is still plenty of exploration upside to be investigated further.

In October 2022, the company revealed it had struck high-grade rubidium over wide zones of up to 71m thick, with mineralised extensions immediately along strike and east of the historic open pit.

Krakatoa has set an exploration target of up to 3.18 million tonnes at the King Tamba project.

Key Points

◾ Company Name: Narryer Metals

◾ Company ASX code: NYM

◾ Key Commodities: Platinum group elements, rare earths, nickel, copper

◾ Key Personnel: Gavin England, Managing Director & Technical Director

| Richard Bevan, Non-Executive Chairman | Damon O’Meara, NonExecutive Director

◾ Locations: Western Australia, South Australia

◾ Market Cap as of 25/01/23: $6.65M

◾ 52-Week Share Price Range at 25/01/23: $0.094 - $0.300

Gavin England

MANAGING DIRECTOR & TECHNICAL DIRECTOR

Narryer Metals

(ASX:NYM)

◾ W: narryer.com.au COMPANY PROFILE

Investment Highlights

■ Tight capital structure with just 47,550,001 shares on issue; good cash position; costs directed into exploration.

■ Strong newsflow pipeline anticipated, with a portfolio of exciting critical metal targets to test over the coming 3-12 months backed by a team with a successful history of exploration and discovery.

■ Management assessing opportunities to increase shareholder value, including an option agreement to acquire the highly prospective REE ground at the Rocky Gully Project in Western Australia’s south west.

Exploring for renewable energy resources in the right places, with a money-in-theground approach and a highly experienced management team, Narryer Metals is making all the right moves in its hot pursuit of rare earth elements (REEs) and platinum group elements (PGEs).

Since listing in April last year, Narryer has aggressively tackled its 100% owned ground prospective for nickel-copper-platinum group metals and rare earth elements in its namesake Narryer Terrane region of Western Australia – in the same geological setting as Chalice Mining’s (ASX:CHN) prolific Gonneville discovery – as well as the Gawler Craton in South Australia.

Drilling kicked off at Mt Nairn at the end of October targeting anomalies identified during electromagnetic surveying. The 3700m program is now complete, with assays pending.

A rare earth elements target was also identified from the presence of thorium at Mt Nairn, as the region began to establish itself as a REE hotspot.

Desert Minerals (ASX:DM1) nearby Innouendy prospect has shown evidence of nickel-PGE and ionic clay-hosted REE mineralisation, while Krakatoa Resources (ASX:KTA) made a major ionic clay-hosted REE discovery at its Mt Clere project.

NYM’s project has similar geology to Innouendy and Mt Clere, and REE fieldwork is underway to follow this up.

In September, Narryer’s management doubled down on REEs when it entered an option to acquire the Rocky Gully project along the Albany Fraser Belt in WA’s Great Southern.

REE and scandium mineralisation have been identified at Rocky Gully and the company is undertaking metallurgical test work on historical drill material alongside the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, with plans to undertake additional on-ground exploration in line with results in the first quarter of 2023.

Most recently, re-assaying of pulp samples obtained in previous drilling at Rocky Gully returned a significant intercept of 24m at 3066 parts per million magnet rare earth oxides (MREO) and 337ppm scandium oxide from 4m, including 4m at 5030ppm total rare earth oxides.

The same hole featured an intersection containing a high-grade zone of valuable scandium – 8m at 546ppm scandium oxide. Scandium is considered one of the most expensive of all the natural elements, owing to its natural rarity.

Across the border in South Australia, Narryer is progressing work at the Ceduna and Sturt nickel-copper-cobalt-PGE-REE projects in the iconic Gawler Craton. Previous exploration of Narryer’s ground here has identified anomalous nickel sulphides and PGEs, which the company said had remained inadequately tested.

REE exploration in the region has also generated astounding results, including Indiana Resources’ (ASX:IDA) Lake Labyrinth discovery, Petratherm’s (ASX:PTR) Comet discovery, Itech Minerals’ (ASX:ITM) Caralue Bluff discovery and Chemx Materials’ (ASX:CMX) Kimba prospect.

Narryer has been cost effective in its testing at Ceduna, assessing more than 300 samples from the project stored in the SA Drill Core Library. Assays are expected this quarter, with drilling expected to follow. Extending the exploration undertaken last year, 2023 will be an exciting period for this junior explorer.

KEY POINTS

◾ Company Name: Latin Resources

◾ Company ASX code: LRS

◾ Key Commodities: Lithium, kaolin-halloysite, copper

◾ Key Personnel: Chris Gale, Managing Director David Vilensky, Chairman Peter Oliver, Non-Executive Director

◾ Locations: Brazil, Australia, Argentina, Peru

◾ Market Cap as of 25/01/23: $275.20M

◾ 52-Week Share Price Range at 25/01/23: $0.030 - $0.228

◾ W: latinresources.com.au

Investment Highlights

◾ Delivered maiden resource in December 2022 of 13.3 million tonnes at 1.2% lithium for the Colina deposit in Brazil.

◾ Significant upside at Colina with an additional exploration target of up to 22 million tonnes and an aggressive 65,000m program of drilling planned for Q1 2023.

◾ Encouraging metallurgical results showing average recoveries of 80.5% and production of high-grade concentrate up to 6.6% from simple heap leaching, which is consistent across the known ore body.

CHRIS GALE MANAGING DIRECTOR

Latin Resources

(ASX:LRS)

Company Profile

Latin Resources is taking the same triedand-tested path as its US$4 billion TSX-V listed neighbour in Brazil – Sigma Lithium Resources – which is on track to reach commercial production from the largest lithium hard rock deposit in the Americas in April 2023.

LRS has a huge foothold in the highly prospective Salinas Lithium Corridor, with its flagship Salinas project sitting in a geological setting like Sigma Lithium’s Grota do Cirilo project, which hosts a world-class resource of 85.7 million tonnes (Mt) at 1.43% Li2O.

It was here that Latin ended 2022 on a high note with the delivery of a maiden resource of 13.3Mt at 1.2% Li2O for the Colina deposit –within that broader Salinas project.

The substantial deposit has significant growth potential, with an exploration target set between 13.5Mt and 22Mt within a grade range of 1.2% to 1.5% Li2O.

Recent drilling 500m to the west of Colina, at the Colina West prospect, has also confirmed the continuity of the thick high-grade spodumene pegmatites previously intersected, as well as uncovered a new zone of mineralisation that remains open in all directions.

LRS has also pinpointed extensions of the Colina deposit to the south and outcropping pegmatites containing spodumene over a 4km strike at the Salinas South target.

These potential parallel mineralised pegmatite systems have significant scale implications for Salinas.

The company has an aggressive drilling program planned for 2023, doubling the number of rigs it has on site to eight to complete a massive 65,000m of drilling.

The significant momentum in the lithium space has prompted Latin Resources to fast track the Salinas project towards a definitive feasibility study, with a preliminary economic assessment currently underway.

The completion of the PEA will pave the way for LRS to progress straight into a definitive feasibility study and investigate the potential to commission a DMS pilot plant at the Salinas project. Meanwhile, Latin is progressing exploration activities over its diversified portfolio of sustainable minerals in Australia and Latin America.

In Western Australia the key focus is halloysite and kaolin at its Cloud Nine project. LRS has an ongoing $3.2 million research project with independent research organisation CRC CARE to investigate the potential for the use of halloysite to be utilised in the reduction of methane emissions in the agricultural sector.

In South America, the focus is on lithium in Brazil and Argentina, and copper in Peru. Lithium and copper are in high demand and have been on an upward trajectory thanks to the electrification push continuing its rapid ramp up around the globe.

Lithium has been the standout for LRS, with the price notching huge gains over the past couple of years. Entering the new year with significant momentum behind it in this space, 2023 looms large for Latin Resources.

Key Points

◾ Company Name: New World Resources

◾ Company ASX code: NWC

◾ Key Commodities: Copper

◾ Key Personnel: Mike Haynes, Managing Director Richard Hill, Chairman

◾ Locations: Northern Arizona, US

◾ Market Cap as of 25/01/23:

$98.94M

◾ 52-Week Share Price Range at 25/01/23: $0.028 - $0.074

◾ W: newworldres.com

Investment Highlights

◾ Working to restart production at the Antler copper mine in Arizona, with an initial scoping study last year showing potential for over 30,000t of copperequivalent production per annum, with projected free cashflow of $135 million/ pa and 42% internal rate of return.

◾ Close to infrastructure, including roads and power lines, reducing project infrastructure costs.

◾ Completed $8 million placement in December to progress work at Antler.

MIKE HAYNES MANAGING DIRECTOR

New World Resources

Company Profile

New World Resources is bringing a highgrade copper mine, closed since 1970, back into production, right as the world recognises the importance of the red metal to its future infrastructure needs.

The Antler mine in northern Arizona produced a total of around 70,000 tonnes of ore, with copper grades of 2.9% (plus 6.2% zinc), before its closure in 1970.

New World Resources acquired an option over the deposit in 2020 and wasted no time, having put in the hard yards since to bring the deposit’s high grade JORC resource to 11.4 million tonnes at 4.1% copper equivalent (CuEq), at a 1% CuEq cut-off.

The resource was most recently updated in November last year, when it increased by a whopping 48%.

A scoping study has been completed at Antler, based on the previous mineral resource. The study revealed a project with significant potential – 9.3 million tonnes of production over a projected mine life of 10 years, with $200 million in capital expenditure, 271,000t CuEq metal output, and free cash flow of $135 million per annum.

The study also estimated the project’s C1 cash costs, on a CuEq basis, of US$1.66 per pound over the forecast initial operating life, which would put the mine towards the lower end of global copper producers. The project would have an internal rate of return of 42%.

New World is planning to update its scoping study with the latest resource estimate early this year, while continuing with its aggressive drilling program, which could further expand the project’s impressive resource.

In December New World reported it had intercepted the highest-grade mineralisation encountered at Antler to date – 10.7m at 13.7% CuEq in the deepest hole yet drilled at South Shoot.

NWC said the mineralisation at Antler remained completely open at depth.

“This hole intersected the South Shoot 66m down-dip from another recently completed hole that intersected a combined thickness of 26.8m at 7%CuEq,” Mike Haynes, New World managing director, said.

“This shows that these ultra-high grades are present within a substantial area.

“It also reinforces our view that, because of its very high grades, the Antler deposit could be profitable through almost all commodity price cycles. The project stands to deliver exceptional returns if high copper prices prevail, as forecast, later this decade – by which time Antler is expected to be in full operation.”

Cashed up thanks to an $8 million raise in December, New World plans to release a pre-feasibility study on the Antler project by the end of 2023.

As the world shows signs of recognising the need to secure supplies of copper critical to the development of infrastructure required for a greener energy future, New World may have timed its run at Antler to perfection.

KEY POINTS

◾ Company Name: Octava Minerals

◾ Company ASX code: OCT

◾ Key Commodities: Lithium, gold, platinum group metals

◾ Key Personnel: Clayton Dodd, NonExecutive Chairman Damon O’Meara, Non-Executive Director | Bevan Wakelam, Managing Director & CEO

◾ Locations: Western Australia

◾ Market Cap as of 25/01/23: $6.22M

◾ 52-Week Share Price Range at 25/01/23: $0.117 - $0.280

◾ W: octavaminerals.com

Investment Highlights

JANUARY 17: Octava enters JV with Future Metals (ASX:FME) over Panton North and Copernicus North tenements, with Octava to be freecarried to decision to mine.

NOVEMBER 24: Multiple pegmatites identified at Talga and an expanded area identified for further detailed exploration.

NOVEMBER 10: Analysis of soil geochemical samples identifies 1.5km target at Pinnacle Well lithium prospect, while mapping confirms pegmatites with geology similar to Global Lithium Resources’ (ASX:GL1) Archer deposit of 18Mt at 1% lithium oxide, only 10km away.

BEVAN WAKELAM MANAGING DIRECTOR & CEO