In the
mind of the CEO
CEO comments on the third quarter
18 November, 2020
During the third quarter, we have developed our operations further across our projects in Finland, Spain and Sweden, and overall as a company via a successful rights issue subscribed to 209 percent. In combination with the warrant trade finalised in late October, we have raised an additional SEK 70 million for the Company, enabling us to advance our operations. Thank you for your support.
Initially, I’d like to highlight some significant developments that occurred during the quarter, all of which are examples of the broader electrification in society, but that are also significant developments for our business as an European provider of critical battery minerals.
For example, a new supply model has emerged, with automakers signing deals directly with mining companies and specific mines to secure their supply of traceable battery minerals. In fact, traceable and sustainable battery minerals are even being used as key consumer messages when selling new cars. Meanwhile, the EU has increased its focus on critical raw materials by highlighting how crucial these raw materials are for Europe’s business development and for the region to achieve its climate neutrality targets. In response to this, the EU founded the European Raw Material Alliance, an organisation Eurobattery Minerals is proud to support as a founding member.
When it comes to our exploration operations, I would first like to highlight the Hautalampi project in eastern Finland, a project we have the option to acquire. The current owner, Vulcan Hautalampi Oy, initiated a drilling campaign in July to verify the mineral potential. With results from the drilling campaign already in hand, we can now confirm a resource expansion potential of between 800 and 1,400 metres along strike from historical mineral resource estimates with consistent nickel, cobalt and copper mineralisation. Specifically, I am pleased with the high-grade intersection of 1.59% cobalt and 1.40% nickel, which indicates potential for high margin mining. During the quarter, the Hautalampi project also initiated the environmental impact assessment procedure to allow onsite mining and processing.
When it comes to our Castriz project area in Spain, Q3 brought increased focus on the mineral potential and mining opportunities for nickel, cobalt and copper in the Corcel project. The results from the mineral identification and characterisation studies, conducted by SGS (Lakefield) in Canada, have confirmed that the majority of nickel and copper is contained within sulphide minerals. Sulphide minerals are the preferred raw materials for the EV battery manufacturing industry, making Corcel potentially an important source of battery minerals.
During the quarter we have also continued our collaboration on sustainable mining for rare earth elements and vanadium with Uppsala University and AGH University of Science & Technology in Krakow. This collaboration includes our exploration project in Fetsjön in northern Sweden. The cooperation with the universities is one crucial part of our sustainable mining operations, as we are committed to cooperating on, and leading the development of sustainable mining. Furthermore, we recently joined the initiative for responsible mining assurance (IRMA). Sustainable mining is at the core of the Company’s business strategy, so we look forward to collaborating with IRMA in the future.
Finally, I would like to remind you of our business model, which involves several projects at different stages progressing in parallel. In addition, we are continually evaluating new opportunities to broaden the Company’s exposure to the battery minerals industry. One example of this is the new reserved exploration permit for the Hitajärvi project, located just 30 kilometres away from the Hautalampi project in eastern Finland, where historic cobalt and copper resources have been identified.
To summaries, there are exciting developments ahead for the Company. I would like to thank you for supporting our continued efforts to be the foundation of the European battery value chain.
Yours faithfully,
Roberto García Martínez