Having a suite of critical-mineral projects spread throughout the world is a promising position for any exploration company to be in, and with strong results coming out of two plays – a zinc-germanium one in Europe and a lithium project in North America – Battery Age Minerals Ltd (ASX:BM8) feels it is well-placed to respond to future demand in these locations.
Chasing mineralisation to meet critical minerals demand in Austria
Last week, BM8 announced it had raised A$1 million to progress exploration at its Bleiberg zinc-germanium project in Austria, with this coming shortly after the company announced fieldwork at the site to happen later in October, chasing up 6 kilometres worth of drill targets, and guided by more than 100 years of historical data.
The latter gives investors some insight into the value of the Bleiberg asset: comprising 116 claims stretched across 65.8 square kilometres, the landholding includes the historic Bleiberg zinc-lead-germanium mine, which was ranked the world’s sixth largest producer of the latter metal before its closure in 1993.
The whole Bleiberg region is recognised as a historic lead and zinc district, with mining activity starting there in the 14th century. But germanium is also found there in world-beating grades, in addition to gallium recorded at between 90 and 110 grams per tonne.
The maiden fieldwork program at Bleiberg will see BM8 chief executive officer Nigel Broomham join chief geological advisor Dr Simon Dorling to undertake reconnaissance geological traverses to support mapping efforts at the project, as well as collecting surface samples, conducting assessment of scale, and establishing drilling targets.
Leveraging strong assets
Mr Broomham – who spent six years in senior geologist and superintendent roles at Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX:PLS) leading the team from Exploration through to Production – joined BM8 before its re-listing to the ASX last year, and said the decision had been guided by both its assets and team.
“It’s pretty similar to my investment strategy as well, (BM8) has a capable board, very strong register, and some really exciting projects which I felt had a huge amount of potential,” he said.
“That’s our lead-zinc-germanium project in Bleiberg Austria – where we have the best exposure to the strategic metals of germanium and gallium on the ASX – and also our lithium asset in Ontario Canada, Falcon Lake.
“It became apparent to me that after 6 years at Pilbara Minerals, playing a part in the success story there at Pilgangoora, that I wanted to get out and find the next one, and I saw Battery Age as the perfect opportunity.”
Tapping into the North American lithium market
BM8’s Falcon Lake lithium project in Canada has been progressing side-by-side with Bleiberg throughout 2024, pulling up impressive results from a summer exploration program which kicked off in July.
This included intercepts of 28.25 metres at 1.30% Li2O (lithium oxide) and 18.40 metres at 1.88% Li2O – both reported in September based on a seven-hole program of drilling, in with significant mineralisation found in six of these.
With a prospective corridor of 5 kilometres in focus, this drilling was able to expand the mineralised zone – particularly at the Falcon Little Lake target, where a 40 metre thick pegmatite was intersected.
This boosted expectations and built on previous exploration carried out in 2023 at the project – which is located in a strong mining jurisdiction in Ontario.
Mr Broomham said being able to play a role in emerging critical minerals stories here and in Europe was a great position to be in.
“For me, sitting in Western Australia and being part of the lithium industry here for a quite a time, watching the emerging North American supply chain with a lot of excitement, and I really feel that’s the next frontier,” he said.
“With that comes our ventures in Europe as well, where we have strategic metals germanium and gallium as well as zinc – these are all future-facing commodities.
“We feel there’s a real need for these metals outside of the China controlled supply chain, and we believe we’re well placed to capitalize on them as they emerge.”
But what about the lithium price?
Nevertheless, he acknowledged that companies in the lithium sector in particular had been doing it tough, given the historically significant weakness in that commodity’s price seen recently, as when it steadied at a three year low of 71,500 Chinese yuan per tonne in September.
Mr Broomham was optimistic that the price had reached its lowest point, and that the cycle would turn around soon.
“It’s been difficult, much like many of our peers, to attract new investment in the sector,” he said.
“But what we’ve seen and what we believe is that we are at the bottom, or close to the bottom, especially when considering lithium and other battery metals globally.
“What we believe that’s done is essentially suppress capital flowing to the next producer, the next developer and the next discovery.”
He added that this suppression would lead to a lack of projects, in turn causing a higher price environment which could be capitalised on when the market turned.
‘Demand is not going anywhere’
Indeed, given reports in September that the world’s biggest battery producer Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd (CATL) had closed down its lithium mine in China’s Jiangxi province have suggested that the oversupply narrative may be coming to an end.
“Nobody likes to be at the bottom of commodity cycles. However, to me this is 2019 all over again – we’ve seen a huge amount of supply come off line,” Mr Broomham said.
“And essentially the current pricing is below incentive pricing which means that these projects will not be coming on line as originally predicted, therefore supply won’t keep up with forecast, and ultimately that will result in high prices for longer.
“Demand is not going anywhere, despite the murmurings up and down St George’s Terrace.”
Crucial to this would be continuing consumer drive for electric vehicles, he added.
“What we know globally is that EV sales continue to grow in the largest markets in the world,” Mr Broomham said.
“Actually now it’s more affordable to buy an EV in the US than it is on a like for like basis as an internal combustion engine.
“So people are going to be voting with not only their heads but with their wallets now.”
BM8 has been trading at 11 cents.
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