Euro Pacific Canada’s Industrial Minerals and Metals analyst Dr. Luisa Moreno discussed strategic metals, including rare earth and lithium investing, when she appeared on SmallCapPower.com on May 2, 2014. Two junior resource stocks that she liked at the time have performed well since, including one that has surged 63% so far.
At that time, she mentioned a few junior stocks that she liked including Critical Elements Corporation (TSXV: CRE) and Nemaska Lithium Inc. (TSXV: NMX), both of which have seen their share prices surged 63% and 56%, respectively, since based on the October 8, 2014 closing prices.
Critical Elements Corp. is actively developing its 100%-owned flagshipRose lithium-tantalum project in Quebec, 75 km due south of Goldcorp’s Eleonore Gold Deposit. A Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) done on Rose estimates a pre-tax Internal Rate of Return (IRR) of 33%, with a Net Present Value (NPV) of $488 million using an 8% discount rate. The payback period is estimated at 4.1 years. The analysis is based on a 17-year mine life, with capital costs estimated at $268.6 million and operating costs of approximately $67.65/tonne of ore milled.
At the time of her interview, Dr. Moreno mentioned that the company has tantalum potentially as a by-product. And in August, Critical Elements Corp. announced that its low iron lithium concentrate has been successfully tested by ceramic and glass manufacturers and the company is now proceeding with plans to diversify its production to include at least three different products– tantalum concentrate, low-iron lithium concentrate, and battery-grade lithium carbonate.
Nemaska Lithium, meanwhile, is moving towards becoming a lithium hydroxide and lithium carbonate producer by developing its Whabouchi project, which is also in Quebec. The company released Feasibility Study results back in May, which showed a NPV of $924 million and IRR of 25.2% for the project.
Nemaska also recently published two patent applications covering its invention of producing lithium hydroxide from lithium sulphate solution utilizing electrolysis technology, as well as the transformation of lithium hydroxide into lithium carbonate. In addition, the company announced on July 2, 2014, that it was in discussions with potential lithium end users and strategic partners.
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